Storm goes down fighting
By Tony Saxon, Guelph Mercury
This one stings just a little bit more than some of the others.
Losing sucks and the Guelph Storm has done more than its fare share of that in a season that has seen them win just one of 12 games so far. But they likely deserved a better fate Sunday at the Sleeman Centre against the Eastern Conference-leading Kingston Frontenacs.
Guelph held a 2-0 lead at the end of the first period and led 2-1 after two, only to see the Frontenacs score a pair of unanswered goals in the third to win 3-2 and send the Storm to its seventh straight loss.
“I think we deserved two points to be honest with you,” Storm forward Givani Smith said. “You’ve got to want it more than the other team and that’s how it goes some times.”
Ryan Verbeek scored the game-winning goal with just 20 seconds left in regulation.
After Storm defenceman C.J. Garcia got caught pinching at the Kingston blue line, Verbeek carried the puck down the ice on a two-on-one rush and wristed a shot that squirted through the pads of Storm goaltender Justin Nichols.
It was a bad end to a pretty good hockey game.
“If there was some hockey gods around, I hope they come around and see us,” Storm coach Bill Stewart said.
“It really stings when you’re close. I would like to have seen a moral victory, even if we did get the 2-2 tie then went into overtime. I want to win for the guys and I want to win for the fans: just to get that moral victory even.”
