A Sleeman Centre Weekend
After a weekend away, the Storm are back home at the Sleeman Centre for two contests this weekend. Tickets are still available for both and can be purchased by visiting or calling the Guelph Storm Box Office at 519-837-9690.
Friday, November 7th : Plymouth Whalers at Guelph Storm, 7:30 pm
On Friday night, the Plymouth Whalers enter the eye of the Storm for their first of two visits this year. The Storm traveled to Plymouth early in the season on September 27th defeating the Whalers in front of their home crowd by a score of 5-3. Matt Kennedy, Peter Holland and Luke Pither all scored for the Storm while Tim Priamo led the way with two. The next match-up between these two teams takes place on December 12th at the Sleeman Centre. The regular season series will be concluded a couple weeks later on January 3rd when the Storm travel to Plymouth for a 7:05 pm start. With a record of 6-8-2-0 the Whalers sit at the bottom of the Western Conference with 14 points.
Facts and Stats
-Friday’s game features the two OHL clubs with the longest active playoff streaks. The Whalers have qualified for the post-season for 17 consecutive seasons, while the Storm have played in the post-season for 16 straight campaigns.
-Just one season removed from an appearance in the OHL All-Star game, Whalers’ netminder Jeremy Smith has struggled in the early going. The Nashville Predators prospect has played nine games this season with a 2-5-1 record and a disappointing 4.58 goals against average.
-Coming off an impressive 101 points season, centre Chris Terry continues to lead the Plymouth offence with 20 points in just 14 games. The Brampton native is the only Whaler with more than 5 goals this season.
-First year forward Tyler Seguin, who was picked three spots in front of Storm rookie Cody McNaughton this summer hasn’t found the back of the net so far this season, but has notched eight assists to rank 6th (tied) on Plymouth in points.
-Special teams have been a definite problem this season for the Whalers. With the man advantage, Plymouth has scored only 10 times for a 11.9% success rate. Shorthanded the Whalers have allowed 23 goals against. Their 76.5% penalty kill rate leaves them second last in the league.
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Sunday, November 9th : Kingston Frontenacs at Guelph Storm, 2:00 pm
Sunday afternoon the Storm host the Kingston Frontenacs for the first and only time this season. These two teams met once before this season in Kingston during the Storm’s Eastern Swing in early October. Scoring the tieing goal with less than a minute remaining in regulation, second year forward Peter Holland was the hero- forcing the extra frame only to score with less than five minutes in to lift his team over the Fronts and pick up the two points. Kingston currently sits last in the Eastern Conference with a record of 4-10-4-0 and 12 points.
Facts and Stats
-The two teams met in Kingston early in the season. Trailing for over 59 minutes, Peter Holland tied the game at one and scored the winner in extra time to help Guelph to the win.
-The Storm will hope to get their 15th ranked power play clicking on Sunday afternoon facing a Frontenacs’ penalty kill unit that sits at the bottom of the league. Kingston has surrendered 27 goals on 108 opportunities (75% success rate).
-The Frontenacs also sit 20th out of 20 teams in powerplay this season with just 9 goals in 98 opportunities. The net difference of 18 goals (27 goals allowed compared to 9 scored on special teams) represents exactly one goal per game through their first 18 games and is a major factor in the team’s 4-10-4-0 start.
-Overage forward Matthew Kang leads the club with 19 points this season in 18 games. Kang’s 11 assists are tied for the team lead, while his 8 goals rank him second behind Josh Brittain (10).
-Former Kitchener Ranger Mavric Parks has seen the bulk of the action this season between the pipes for Kingston. The second year netminder played 32 games last season split between Kitchener and Kingston. In 15 games this season, Parks has a 3.88 GAA and 0.899 save percentage.
Pre-game Remembrance Week ceremony
Prior to Sunday’s game, the Colour Guard from Royal Canadian Legion Branch 234 Sir John McCrae Branch (please check the information re the Legion) will conduct a brief ceremony honouring those that lost their lives serving Canada.
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