Storm earn third straight victory with 4-1 win over Bulldogs
Patrick Leaver led the Guelph Storm to a 4-1 victory over the Hamilton Bulldogs at the FirstOntario Centre Wednesday night.
After being acquired from the Oshawa Generals via trade on Monday, Leaver made 21 saves on 22 shots en route to victory in his Storm debut. The win was Leaver’s 13th of the season, and his 35th in the Ontario Hockey League.
With the victory, Guelph improves to 16-18-4-1 on the year, Hamilton falls to 15-18-4-0. The Storm have won three straight games and move into seventh place in the Western Conference, inside a playoff spot. The Bulldogs have lost five consecutive games, remaining in seventh place in the Eastern Conference.
Braeden Bowman opened the scoring 12:58 into the first period with a power play goal on a one-time shot that went over the glove-side shoulder of Hamilton goaltender David Egorov. The goal was Bowman’s 11th of the season, he’s tallied four goals and an assist in his last three games.
In the second period, Guelph captain Cooper Walker capitalized on a centring pass from Max Namestnikov, firing a wrist shot through the pads of Egorov for the game-winner. It was Walker’s eighth of the year, and his 25th of his Ontario Hockey League career.
Jake Karabela potted a short-handed goal with 1:44 remaining in the middle frame as he deked out Egorov and put the puck by the goaltender with a nifty back-handed shot. The Guelph-native has found the back of the net 11 times this year, with two short-handed goals.
The Bulldogs scored their lone goal of the game with 10 second left on the clock in the second, when Patrick Thomas scored on a tip-in off a back-handed shot by Jorian Donovan. Thomas has scored 11 goals in 2022-23 and is second on Hamilton in points with 26.
Hunter McKenzie added a late insurance marker when Valentin Zhugin found his stick with a tape-to-tape pass on an odd man rush with 3:36 left in the final frame. It was McKenzie’s third OHL goal.
Next Up:
The Storm are back in action Friday night against the London Knights at Budweiser Gardens, with the puck dropping at 7:00pm. They’ll wrap up their road trip against the Owen Sound Attack Saturday night at 7:30pm before returning to Guelph to face off against the Peterborough Petes on Friday, January 20 at 7:30pm. Tickets for the next game at the Sleeman Centre can be found by clicking here.
Game Notes:
Guelph Storm 4 at Hamilton Bulldogs 1 – Status: End of Game
Wednesday, January 11, 2023 – FirstOntario Centre
Guelph 1 2 1 – 4
Hamilton 0 1 0 – 1
1st Period-1, Guelph, Bowman 11 (Poitras, Buchinger), 12:58 (PP). Penalties-Roberts Ham (holding), 8:26; Donovan Ham (hooking), 12:39; Buchinger Gue (hooking), 20:00.
2nd Period-2, Guelph, Walker 8 (Namestnikov), 9:00. 3, Guelph, Karabela 11 (McGuire), 18:16 (SH). 4, Hamilton, Thomas 11 (Donovan, Moore), 19:50. Penalties-Roberts Ham (roughing), 3:54; Paquette Gue (fighting), 9:07; Roberts Ham (fighting), 9:07; Testa Ham (hooking), 15:16; Namestnikov Gue (too many men), 16:30.
3rd Period-5, Guelph, McKenzie 3 (Zhugin, Robinson), 16:27. Penalties-Murray Gue (high sticking), 9:29.
Shots on Goal-Guelph 7-10-6-23. Hamilton 10-6-6-22.
Power Play Opportunities-Guelph 1 / 4; Hamilton 0 / 3.
Goalies-Guelph, Leaver 13-13-1-2 (22 shots-21 saves). Hamilton, Egorov 0-1-0-0 (23 shots-19 saves).
Timeouts —
A-2,601
Referees-Jason Faist (5), Stephen Hiff (13).
Linesmen-Kyle Rodgers (59), Adam Harris (49).