Storm 0 at Knights 2… 1st period action
The Guelph Storm season came to a close on Friday night versus London thanks to a 6-2 defeat. The win gives the Knights a 4-1 series win as they advance to the Western Conference Semifinals.
For the fifth game in a row, London scored first and actually built a 2-0 lead before the Storm would reply. Seth Griffith scored the opening goal of the contest for the second straight night. Less than three minutes later, Daniel Erlich scored with a point shot through traffic on the powerplay to double the lead to 2-0. Down a pair, Guelph would finally solve Michael Hutchinson on Michael Latta’s second of the series. Before the end of the first, Nazem Kadri scored on a four-on-four rush with a shot that Brandon Foote got a piece of but couldn’t stop.
The second period was even with both clubs scoring once. For London it was Jared Knight lifting the hosts to a three goal lead. Guelph’s Peter Holland would give the Storm life 6:21 into the second and pull them within two on the powerplay. With over half the game remaining, the Storm trailed 4-2 and would need to score three times if they had any hope of coming back from two down in the series.
Instead it was London that did all of the scoring beginning with another Erlich powerplay goal at the 3:16 mark of the third stanza. Late in the game the Storm would turn a five-on-four powerplay into a six-on-four by pulling Foote in favour of an extra attacker. After failing to cash in on the two-man advantage, Colin Martin would scoop up a loose puck and send it into the empty net to lift London to a 6-2 lead and effectively end the Storm season.
With the series loss, the OHL careers of overagers Corey Syvret, Ryan Gottschalk and Conor O’Donnell come to a close for the Storm. Guelph will head into the 2010-11 season with high hopes after a late-season surge that put them among the league’s best over the final thirty games.
Season tickets for 2010-11 are on sale with flexible payment options and a savings of up to $200 off regular box office prices.
Guelph Storm 2 At London Knights 6 – Status: End of Game
Mar 26, 2010 – John Labatt Centre
Guelph 1 1 0 – 2
London 3 1 2 – 6
1st Period-1, London, Griffith 2 (D’Orazio, Tarasuk), 5:08. 2, London, Erlich 4 (Kadri, Martin), 7:24 (pp). 3, Guelph, Latta 2 (Holland, Van Laren), 11:05. 4, London, Kadri 4 (Tarasuk), 15:14. Penalties-Van Laren Gue (tripping), 7:14; Tarasuk Ldn (interference), 12:17; McNaughton Gue (diving), 14:33; D’Orazio Ldn (interference), 14:33.
2nd Period-5, London, Knight 5 (Kadri, D’Orazio), 3:16. 6, Guelph, Holland 3 (Latta, Comrie), 6:21 (pp). Penalties-Sanza Ldn (hooking), 6:08; Holland Gue (slashing), 6:21; Kadri Ldn (slashing), 6:21; Harrington Ldn (hooking), 7:23; Harrington Ldn (kneeing), 9:32; Sisca Gue (hooking), 11:07; Salters Ldn (inter. on goaltender), 15:11.
3rd Period-7, London, Erlich 5 (Kadri, Knight), 14:02 (pp). 8, London, Martin 2 16:58 (sh). Penalties-Holland Gue (hooking), 1:14; Kadri Ldn (charging), 2:23; McNaughton Gue (holding), 12:39; Sisca Gue (tripping), 12:39; Comrie Gue (game misconduct), 14:02; Van Laren Gue (high sticking), 14:49; Martin Ldn (diving), 14:49; DeSousa Ldn (interference), 16:30.
Shots on Goal-Guelph 6-10-9-25. London 6-15-10-31.
Power Play Opportunities-Guelph 1 of 7; London 2 of 5.
Goalies-Guelph, Foote 1-2-1-0 (31 shots-25 saves). London, Hutchinson 3-1-0-0 (25 shots-23 saves).
A-8,917
Referees-Darcy Burchell (17), Bob Langdon (7).
Linesmen-Darryl Wolfe (53), Tim Steen (75).
