Guelph Storm win 2013-14 OHL Championship
Friday May 9, 2014
The Guelph Storm are the 2013-14 Ontario Hockey League champions capturing the Robertson Cup with a thrilling 4-3 victory over the North Bay Battalion in Game 5 of the Rogers OHL Championship Series.
Kerby Rychel scored the game-tying goal with 4:29 remaining in the third period then netted the game-winner with just over 26 seconds to play in regulation to clinch the victory for the Storm before a Sleeman Centre crowd of 5,015.
The Storm cap off their best season in franchise history first earning the Hamilton Spectator Trophy as regular season champions with 52 wins and 108 points before winning their third OHL title previously hoisting the Robertson Cup in 1998 and 2004.
“I can’t even put it into words right now,” Storm captain Matt Finn said after accepting the Robertson Cup from OHL Commissioner David Branch. “We didn’t make it easy today that’s for sure, we believed in ourselves the whole time and knew we were going to get it done today. We went down a couple but we knew what it took to win in this league and in a crucial game like this we brought it.”
It took 20 post-season games for the Storm to become OHL champions winning each series in five games including a first round series victory over the Plymouth Whalers, a second round elimination of the London Knights, then defeated the Erie Otters to capture the Wayne Gretzky Trophy as Western Conference champions before facing the Battalion.
“From day one this was our goal to win this and make it to the Memorial Cup and have a chance to play for that,” Finn added. “We did it as a team, there’s not one guy more important than the next on this team, from the coaching staff, everybody up through the scouts, owners, GM Mike Kelly, they put it together for us luckily we had the horses to get it done.”
The Battalion opened the scoring at 16:18 of the first period with a power play goal from Nick Paul. Brock McGinn tied it for the Storm less than a minute later but the Troops answered back in the final minute with Brett McKenzie’s second goal of the post-season.
Battalion captain Barclay Goodrow netted his playoff leading 14th goal, a shorthanded tally at 6:39 of the second period to extend the lead to 3-1. Finn cut the lead to 3-2 with a goal at the 19:00 minute mark paving the way for the exciting final frame.
2014 NHL Draft prospect Robby Fabbri earned playoff MVP honours earning the Wayne Gretzy ’99’ Award with 28 points in 16 games including three assists in the series finale.
The Storm win ends a magical run for the Battalion who captured the Bobby Orr Trophy as Eastern Conference champions in their first season in North Bay.
“I’m really proud of the players,” said Battalion coach Stan Butler. “We came in here tonight and we were playing a really good team. As a coaching staff we believed in this group, and the way they played tonight shows the type of character they have.”
Rychel led the OHL playoffs with 32 points in 20 games followed closely by teammate Zack Mitchell with 30 points, while Fabbri and Scott Kosmachuk each finished with 28 points.
The Storm outshot the Battalion 38-26 in Game 5 with Justin Nichols earning his 16th playoff win between the pipes.
The OHL champion Storm earn a berth in the 2014 MasterCard Memorial Cup in London where they will open their competition against the Western Hockey League champion on Saturday May 17.
VIDEO: Highlights, MVP Presentation, Robertson Cup Presentation, Post-Game Interviews.