Guelph’s fourth line gets top billing in 6-2 win over Greyhounds
By Tony Saxon, Guelph Mercury
The Sleeman Centre is the land of equal opportunity these days.
As far as the Guelph Storm and coach Scott Walker are concerned, there is no pre-conceived notion of what role players will play on a particular night
Case in point: Friday’s 6-2 victory over the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, where the line that started the night as the Storm’s so-called fourth line ended up being it’s best line.
Cody McNaughton, Ryan Horvat and Patrick Watling came into the contest looking to check Greyhounds’ 100-point man Nick Cousins into the ice. They did that, but also found time to combine for five points, including goals by Horvat and McNaughton.
“To be honest with you, I don’t know which is our fourth line,” Walker said after the game. “It could be any one of the lines. I feel comfortable rolling all four of our lines, I really do.”
Walker said you have to reward players who play hard and execute well.
“I think it’s the only way: To reward players for their effort. We have a great bunch of guys in that dressing room and they hold each other accountable and if I don’t do it too, they’ll lose respect for everybody,” Walker said.
“That’s the way I liked it when I played and I think the guys appreciate it.”
Friday’s win, combined with Kitchener’s shootout loss to Saginaw, leaves the Storm four points back of the Rangers for home ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs with five games remaining in the regular season.
Guelph has a game in hand over Kitchener and plays them on Wednesday.
“It’s great to get rewarded. Walks (Walker) has been great to us. He uses us as a shutdown line, but we’ll do anything we can do to help,” McNaughton said.
“That’s how we look at it in the room. We have four lines and everyone can play with everyone. That’s how you’re going to win in playoffs, if you have four lines rolling, because some teams aren’t as deep as we are.”