Game Preview: Storm vs. Barrie Colts, February 24th
On Saturday the Storm head to Barrie for the final game of the season series. The previous game against the Colts was back in November, when the Storm won 5-4 at home in overtime. Cedric Ralph was the hero, scoring one of his seven game winning goals (he currently sits tied for 2nd in the league in game winning goals scored all season).
Barrie Colts
After a dismal year last year, the Colts have had an impressive 2017-18 campaign. Their last place finish in 2016-17, allowed them to draft Ryan Suzuki and Andrei Svechnikov in the OHL Priority Selection and CHL Import Draft respectively. Currently second in the Eastern Conference, their record of 34-21-2-1 and 71 points has helped them clinch a playoff spot. With 71 points already this season, the Colts are an impressive 30 points over their total from last year.
Due to their success, the Colts became buyers before the trade deadline and brought in Aaron Luchuk. Luchuk is the league’s leading scorer in goals and total points. This season, he has 43 points, 54 assists for 97 total points in 58 games (30 with Windsor and 28 with Barrie).
Guelph Storm
It was a wild night at the Sleeman Centre last night, fighting back from a two goal defiect a number of times the Storm ending up losing in overtime to the Owen Sound Attack earning one point in the playoff race. With 61 points and a record of 27-23-3-4, the Storm still find themselves battling for a playoff position. Just one point out of 6th, six points out of 5th and seven points out of 4th, the Storm currently sit 7th in the Western Conference.
Liam Hawel enjoyed a bounce back game against the Attack. Scoring two goals, he now has 11 on the season. In total, Hawel has 23 assists to go with his goal total for 34 points in 51 games for the Storm this season. He is the team’s 6th leading scorer, two points behind associate captain Nate Schnarr.
Head To Head
| 2017-18 Regular Season | |
|---|---|
| GUE 1-0-0-0 | BAR 0-0-1-0 |
| 2016-17 Regular Season | |
|---|---|
| GUE 2-0-0-0 | BAR 0-1-1-0 |
| Last Five Years | |
|---|---|
| GUE 7-2-0-0 | BAR 2-4-2-1 |
| Last Five Years At Guelph | |
|---|---|
| GUE 4-1-0-0 | BAR 1-3-1-0 |
| Last Five Years At Barrie | |
|---|---|
| GUE 3-1-0-0 | BAR 1-1-1-1 |
| Previous Meetings This Season |
|---|
|
Barrie 4 @ Guelph 5 (2017-11-24)
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Top Scorers
| Guelph | Barrie |
|---|---|
Last 5 Games
| Guelph | Barrie |
|---|---|
|
6 – 7 L v. Owen Sound (2018-02-23)
|
4 – 7 L v. Mississauga (2018-02-22)
|
|
0 – 4 L v. Erie (2018-02-19)
|
2 – 5 L @ Kingston (2018-02-19)
|
|
4 – 5 L @ Erie (2018-02-18)
|
3 – 1 W v. Niagara (2018-02-17)
|
|
1 – 2 L v. Ottawa (2018-02-16)
|
5 – 4 W @ Windsor (2018-02-15)
|
|
2 – 3 L v. London (2018-02-11)
|
8 – 5 W @ Flint (2018-02-14)
|
Match Up
| Guelph | Barrie | |
|---|---|---|
| Season Record | 27-23-3-4 | 34-21-2-1 |
| Last 10 Games | 3-4-2-1 | 7-3-0-0 |
| Streak | 0-2-2-1 | 0-2-0-0 |
| Last Game | 7-6 L vs Owen Sound (2018-02-23) Final | 7-4 L vs Mississauga (2018-02-22) Final |
| Home Record | 16-8-3-2 | 18-9-0-1 |
| Away Record | 11-15-0-2 | 16-12-2-0 |
| Goals For | 187 | 235 |
| Goals Against | 213 | 195 |
| Power Plays | 47/213 (22.1%) | 50/237 (21.1%) |
| Power Plays – Home | 18/103 (17.5%) | 23/117 (19.7%) |
| Power Plays – Away | 29/110 (26.4%) | 27/120 (22.5%) |
| Penalty Killing | 40/197 (79.7%) | 55/257 (78.6%) |
| Penalty Killing – Home | 18/104 (82.7%) | 27/127 (78.7%) |
| Penalty Killing – Away | 22/93 (76.3%) | 28/130 (78.5%) |
| Leading Rookie | Hillis (19-35-54) | Svechnikov (31-21-52) |
| Most Penalty Minutes | Ryan Merkley | Tyler Tucker |
| Team PIM/GM | 9/57 | 12.2/58 |
Players to Watch
This game will have 8 players with NHL affiliation, 6 from Guelph and 2 from Barrie. Guelph’s players are Liam Hawel (Dallas Stars, 2017, 4th round), Nate Schnarr (Arizona Coyotes, 2017, 3rd round), Alexey Toropchenko (St. Louis Blues, 2017, 4th round), Isaac Ratcliffe (Philadelphia Flyers, 2017, 2nd round), Mark Shoemaker (San Jose Sharks, 2016, 6th round) and Dmitri Samorukov (Edmonton Oilers, 2017, 3rd round). The final two players on Barrie are Dmitry Sokolov (Minnesota Wild, 2016, 7th round) and Aaron Luchuk (Ottawa Senators, FA signing).
This will also be a match-up between the league’s top rookies, Cam Hillis and Andrei Svechnikov. Hillis is leading league rookies in points with 19 goals and 34 assists for 53 points. Svechnikov ‘s season has seen him in and out of Barrie’s lineup, with a broken hand and a couple international tournaments for Russia. He has only played 34 games, but has 31 goals and 21 assists, 1 points behind Hillis with 52 points.
Upcoming Games
Back in Guelph on Sunday, the Storm will take on the Mississauga Steelheads at the Sleeman Centre for a 4pm start. The two teams played in Mississauga earlier this month, where the Steelheads won a tight game 6-5.
Fans can purchase tickets either in-person at the Sleeman Centre Box Office, by calling (519) 837-9690 or online at ticketmaster.com here.
