From the Stands
By Paul Osborne, Guelph Tribune
After playing one of their most complete games of the season in last Friday night’s 4-1 win over the Sarnia Sting, the Guelph Storm hit a speed bump on their road back to respectability Sunday blowing a two goal third period lead to lose 7-6 in overtime to Erie.
It was also a game that Cody McNaughton would like to forget. It was his undisciplined double minor checking from behind penalty with eight minutes remaining that ultimately cost his team the game.
Still, the Storm took five of a possible six points with another win over London Thursday night and got themselves back into the playoff picture.
The concern with Sunday’s effort was the fact the team reverted back to its habit of trying to be too cute. Falling in love with drop passes that often ended up as turnovers and cross-ice passes that became odd man rushes in the other direction.
“We played with an arrogance about us where we thought we could do no wrong” said coach Jason Brooks. “But eventually it caught up with us. It looked like we were playing with overconfidence when really we’re a team battling for the playoffs and respectability again. Just because we put together a few good efforts doesn’t mean we’re out of the woods yet.”
But Peter Holland, who had three goals and an assist, wasn’t so sure that the team was being too creative when told of Brooks’ comments.
“Well I guess you could argue (that we got a little too fine) but you could also argue that when you get a little confidence you try to make the extra play” said the veteran centre. “It is a high risk, high reward thing. If the long pass gets through you have a chance to score.”
As for McNaughton, he had been moved to the fourth line for ineffective play and seemed to take his frustration out by plastering an Otters defenceman into the boards while killing a penalty 195 feet from his own net. It was a bad mistake that allowed Erie to scored two goals to tie the game while he sat in the box.
“He wasn’t happy taking that penalty” said Holland. “He is one of the most unselfish players on the team (and I know he’ll think about it).”
When asked whether McNaughton will face any further disciplinary action Brooks would only say…”We’ll handle it internally.”
So on the shinier side of the coin, the Storm seems to have left their scoring slump behind. Holland had a trick, Richard Panik had two more goals and Tyler Carroll has caught fire with at least one goal in eight of his last ten games including the last five in a row.
General Manager Mike Kelly has some decisions to make. Should he add some players to help this season at the expense of next year or should he stand pat and hope for the best? He does have a number of draft picks to deal but not much else that he’d either be willing to give up or would hold much trade value.
At least they seem to have turned a corner. Another strong week with games against Windsor and Kitchener twice, would lay the groundwork for a strong second half run.
From the Land of Oz….Panik leaves this week to play for Slovakia at the World Junior Hockey championships.
