Smith, Garca rise to the occasion against former team
By Tony Saxon, Guelph Mercury
There is nothing sweeter than sticking it to the team that traded you away.
The Guelph Storm’s Givani Smith and C.J. Garcia got to do just that Friday night at the Sleeman Centre in a 5-2 win over the Barrie Colts.
It was the first regular season meeting between the two teams since the Colts traded Smith and Garcia to the Storm in a deadline-day deal almost exactly a year ago that saw Ben Harpur and Chadd Bauman go the other way.
Smith was a beast, scoring twice and assisting on the game winning goal by Jake Harris early in the third period. Garcia logged a ton of ice on the blue line and was rock solid.
“There’s no better feeling than beating those guys,” Garcia said after the game. “I was so excited. I’ve had this one circled on the calendar for a while.”
Garcia said his younger teammate answered the call, using the emotion of the game as fuel.
“They traded me and Givani and I think we were just inspired tonight. The team rallied around us, especially Givani, he played a really emotional game. He was all over the ice, dominating.”
Smith said he was extremely motivated on Friday.
“It’s another game and another game we’re playing, but in the back of my mind I know most of those guys. I tried not to let my emotions get the best of me and it worked out,” Smith said.
Apparently some of the Barrie players had a few things to say to Garcia and Smith before the game. It continued at ice level early into the game but pretty much died off as the Storm lead grew.
“Those guys were chirping us before the game, saying that they were going to run us over. I think we showed them that the Western Conference is nothing to mess with,” Garcia said.
