A goal scorer to remember
Scott Kosmachuk took four seasons as a member of the Guelph Storm to become one of the best goal scorers the organization has seen, earning the title of OHL Champion in the process.
Steph Coratti, GuelphStorm.com —
Goal scorer: the two words that most would use to define Scott Kosmachuk.
A label, however, that the six-foot, 189-pound winger had to earn during his four-year Ontario Hockey League tenure.
In 2010-11, his rookie season, Kosmachuk found the back of the net only six times.
It would be the last time, though, that the Guelph Storm forward didn’t hit, or surpass, 30 goals on a season – including an impressive 49 tallies in his fourth and final campaign.
“Obviously going into your first year, there’s nerves involved,” Kosmachuk said of the jump from 21 points as a rookie, to 59 as a sophomore. “But guys like Taylor Beck and [Michael Latta] were pretty good with the rookies. They were like big brothers to us, and made it more comfortable around the rink, and that kicks into your game.”
Three years later in 2013-14, Kosmachuk would find himself in a much different position, sitting at 45 goals with just two games remaining on the schedule.
Pocketing four goals against the Sarnia Sting, the Storm’s leading goal-and-point getter would be just one marker removed from the 50-goal milestone heading into Owen Sound the very next night.
It wouldn’t be fate, however, as Kosmachuk remembers the sound of multiple posts before being ejected from the game at the 12:59 mark of the second period for a checking-to-the-head call.
“I remember sitting on the bench and [Brock McGinn] said to me, ‘You have 49 eh, Kos?’” Kosmachuk laughed, adding that fellow linemate Jason Dickinson also clued in to the mark very much in reach. “Then the next shift we went out, and everyone was getting me it. I hit like two posts, a cross bar, and then you know what happened after that.”
Falling short of 50 does leave a bitter taste, the former Storm forward openly admitted, although, it would be nothing that lifting the J. Ross Robertson cup as Ontario Hockey League Champions wouldn’t be able to fix.
The Storm, with one of the most historic rosters in franchise history, would close out the 2013-14 regular season with an incredible 52-12-2-2 record for 108 points, winning the OHL.
They wouldn’t stop there, pushing past the Plymouth Whalers, the London Knights, the Erie Otters, and last, but certainly not least, the North Bay Battalion – dropping only one game in every series.
Kosmachuk would be a significant part of that push, never letting up offensively with a total for 28 points (20 goals, 10 assists) in 20 postseason games enroute to becoming a 2014 OHL Champion.
“That was something pretty special,” Kosmachuk explained of his proudest moment as an individual, and collectively as a team. “We had a group of guys that grew up together from the beginning of our junior careers, and then a few special additions obviously, but you know that year was awesome.”
The brother-bond that was impossible to ignore on the ice, expanded into the city, and that only made a four-year career in Guelph that much more special.
“You’d go around the city and you’d see signs for the Storm games, and then you’d go for dinner and see coasters with the team on it,” Kosmachuk recalls, adding that the Public Relations department for the team played a huge role in the atmosphere. “The city really got behind us in our last year, and that’s something that really gets you going.”
Prior to the championship run, Kosmachuk hadn’t played more than six playoff games following a season, something he compares to having just six goals as an individual in his rookie campaign.
“Going into my rookie season, it was tough – the team didn’t do great, my numbers weren’t great,” the right-winger explained of the most influential lesson he takes from his major junior career to his now professional playing days. “But it was all about keeping a positive attitude knowing that if you just keep working hard every day, things will happen.”
“Every season I tried to improve personally and with the team, and that’s obviously what happened,” Kosmachuk continued, “I’m really trying to take that to where I am now. The first season in the American League is a little tougher, and this year it’s still early, but hopefully I’m only going to keep moving in a positive direction, and that’s an attitude that comes right from my junior career.”
When it comes down to it, though, the unforgettable goal scorer will always remember one thing about being a member of the Guelph Storm.
“We were one big family,” Kosmachuk said, “Not just the players, or the coaches, it was the staff and everybody involved.”
“Walking around the rink and having that feeling, it’s something you remember.”
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Scott Kosmachuk
- Guelph Storm, 2010-2014
- OHL Totals: 271 games played, 120 goals, 126 assists, 246 points
- Playoffs: 37 games played, 14 goals, 21 assists, 35 points
- Led 2013-14 roster with most goals (49) and points (101)
- Second all-time in career goals (120)
- Named 12th all-time forward in Guelph Storm history
- Selected in the third round (70th overall) by the Winnipeg Jets in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft
