Game Preview: Storm ready for rematch hosting Attack

With the Owen Sound Attack in town on Friday, the Guelph Storm will look to earn their first victory of the season following four straight losses. 

Steph Coratti, GuelphStorm.com —

The Guelph Storm will have more than just earning their first victory on their minds come Friday night.

With their closest contest so far this season coming against the Owen Sound Attack on Sept. 26, where the Storm fell 1-0 in a tough overtime loss, a sense of redemption will be an addition to the Highway Six rivalry.

Redemption paired with a necessary rebound might also be the theme come Friday at the Sleeman Centre, with the Storm suffering two-big straight losses in an 8-5 deficit in Saginaw, and an 8-4 loss to the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds on Oct. 2 at home. 

Player Watch 

• Guelph Storm 

For a team that had its biggest question surrounding offense with the season’s beginning, answers have come in big games from unexpected names. On Oct. 3 in Saginaw, rookie Nic Sicoly was just that. Opening the scoring 8:32 into the first period, the Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario native registered his first career OHL goal to give the Storm their first lead of the young 2015-16 campaign. Holding the lead through the remainder of the opening frame, Saginaw would respond with three-second period markers to make it a 3-1 deficit just past the halfway point. Sicoly wasted no time responding, finding the back of the net for the second of his career on the power play less than two minutes later, making it a one goal deficit for the visiting Storm. Despite dropping the contest 8-5, the five-foot-nine, 165-pound winger provided Guelph a strong chance to pull out of Saginaw with their first win of the season through 40 minutes of play. With the two-goal performance, Sicoly is now fourteenth in rookie scoring. 

Another OHL freshman proved to be a difference maker in Saginaw, with 2015 first round selection Isaac Ratcliffe registering his first career OHL tally this past Saturday as well. Down 3-2 at the start of the final period, Ratcliffe only needed 31 seconds into the frame to find the back of the net and tie things up at three-a-piece with the Spirit. Although the knotted score didn’t last long, the six-foot-four, 192-pound centre has only gotten better with every contest, and getting the first marker out of the way is a simple sign of things to come from this young Storm squad. 

In the previous match-up between these Highway Six rivals on Sept. 26, though a shortage of goals scored, there was certainly no trouble finding the star of the game. Veteran goaltender Justin Nichols put forth arguably the strongest performance of his major junior career in a 1-0 loss to the Attack in the second game of the season, turning aside a total of 45 shots on the night – including 19 alone in the opening frame. Undoubtedly keeping the team in front of him in the contest for the vast majority of the game, the lone goal scored would be in overtime with the Attack capitalizing on a two-on-one rush. Despite the loss, the St. Catharine’s, Ontario native is very much responsible for the lone point the Storm have to their name heading into Friday’s tilt. With the five-foot-nine, 163-pound netminder noticeably having Owen Sound’s number throughout his OHL career, Guelph will lean on him between the pipes in order to pull out their first win of the 2015-16 season on Friday. 

• Owen Sound Attack

Second on team scoring, Jaden Lindo, was the name who ended the close tilt against the Storm on Sept. 26, capitalizing on a two-on-one rush. Two games removed from the win, the six-foot-two, 208-pound right-winger has four points (three goals, one assist) on the season and is fresh off a one goal, plus-two performance against the Greyhounds on Oct. 3 where the four-year OHL veteran was named second star. With just nine points (seven goals, two assists) in 2014-15, Lindo is more than on pace to surpass last season’s totals, and will be certainly looking to maintain the production rate against the Storm on Friday.

Leading the way on the blue line for the Attack is fourth year veteran Santino Centorame, who presently stands 17^th in OHL defenceman scoring with three points (one goal, two assists). The five-foot-eleven, 190-pound Mississauga, Ontario native has almost consistently doubled his point totals through his OHL career, with 2014-15 standing out as a breakout season with 30 points (five goals, 25 assists), paired with a plus-12 rating through 66 games played. 

Looking back to the paint, third-year netminder Michael McNiven has given the Attack a chance to win on a nightly basis, starting in all four contests this season. The 1997-born Georgetown, Ontario native has compiled an OHL-seventh ranking in both goals-against-average with a 2.31 and save-percentage at a .932 for a 3-0-0-1 record. McNiven, who was up to the task of competing with Nichols in a battle-of-the-goaltenders during the last match-up on Sept. 26, is a mere spot ahead of the Storm goaltender who sits eighth in the OHL with a .923 save percentage. In the latest contest for the Attack, with the Greyhounds visiting, McNiven turned aside 37 of 40 shots on the night, allowing two of three shootout attempts in the 4-3 loss. 

The Opponent: Owen Sound Attack (3-0-0-1, 7 points) 

Currently sitting second in the Midwest Division with seven points – one point behind the Erie Otters – the Owen Sound Attack are not an opponent to take lightly, specifically as a divisional rival. The Attack haven’t suffered a regulation loss yet this campaign, with three wins and a shootout loss to their record thus far.

With a .875 win percentage, the Attack’s strongest point seems to be their ability to stay in, and come out of, close contests. Beginning the 2015-16 campaign with a 5-4 win over the Kitchener Rangers, the Attack fell behind 3-1 in the opening frame, eventually coming through in overtime to earn their first win of the season. Of course, the following night on Sept. 26, the Attack managed to push through tremendous goaltending in the Storm’s Justin Nichols to earn their second straight overtime victory of the season in a 1-0 result. Moving to Oct. 3, the Attack stayed toe-to-toe with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, concluding every period with a locked score until the Greyhounds finally came out on top in a shootout, giving the Attack their lone loss on the season thus far.

If the Storm look to push past this Highway Six rival to earn their first win of the season, competing for a complete 60-minutes will be a necessary requirement, as the Attack have undoubtedly made a habit of doing just that to compile a 3-0-0-1 record through four games. 

GAME NOTES

• Nic Sicoly (first OHL goal), Isaac Ratcliffe (first OHL goal), Kyle West, and Levi Tetrault are all coming off recording their first OHL point in Guelph’s last game in Saginaw on Oct. 3. 
• In the last match-up between the Attack and the Storm, Guelph fell 1-0 in overtime, earning their only point of the 2015-16 season thus far. 

• The Owen Sound Attack have not lost in regulation yet this season. 

• Friday’s contest between the Highway Six rivals will be the second of eight meetings.

• Looking at other weekend action for Guelph, the Storm are in Oshawa on Oct. 12 for a 2:00 p.m. start.