Sting sneaks by Storm

Friday night at the Sleeman Centre, a crowd of 4.048 watched the visiting Sarnia Sting score late in the third period to snap a 2-2 deadlock and grab a 4-2 decision.  The banged up Guelph lineup was missing four forwards including Hunter Garlent, Patrick Watling, Tanner Richard and Tyler Bertuzzi to injury.

When the two clubs combined for four goals inside the first 16 minutes of the first, the game looked like it could be a replay of the high scoring affair in mid-October where the Storm took a 6-3 win.  However, after Alex Basso tied the game at a pair at 15:18, neither team would score again for the next 42 plus minutes. 

With Guelph enjoying just their second man advantage of the contest late in the third, Brock McGinn was whistled for boarding.  After Charles Sarault stepped out of the box to give the visitors a powerplay, Alex Galchenyuk showed why he was the third pick overall in last summer’s NHL Entry Draft as he slid through the Storm defence and snapped the game winner past Garret Sparks.  Sarnia added an empty netter to make it a 4-2 final.

In the first, Zack Mitchell finished off a two-on-one from Scott Kosmachuk and Jason Dickinson to give the Storm a 1-0 lead.  After Sarnia knotted the score, a Ryan Horvat (pictured) knuckleball from a bag angle made it 2-1 Guelph. 

After an exhausting stretch of games that saw the Storm play three straight three-in-three weekends, Guelph will finally enjoy a night off before heading to Brampton to face the Battalion on Sunday afternoon at 2 pm.  

Sarnia Sting 4 at Guelph Storm 2 – Status: In Progress (2:12 remaining in 3rd)
Friday, November 9, 2012 – Sleeman Centre

Sarnia 2 0 2 – 4
Guelph 2 0 0 – 2

1st Period-1, Guelph, Mitchell 8 (Dickinson, Kosmachuk), 2:46. 2, Sarnia, Goldobin 8   12:26. 3, Guelph, Horvat 4 (Poliziani, Finn), 14:43. 4, Sarnia, Basso 3 (Sarault, Galchenyuk), 15:18. Penalties-Moore Sar (hooking), 16:02.

2nd Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Fabbri Gue (tripping), 6:26; Auger Gue (unsportsmanlike cnd.), 12:53.

3rd Period-5, Sarnia, Galchenyuk 12 (Boucher), 17:24. 6, Sarnia, Boucher 9 (Sarault, Duininck), 19:02 (EN). Penalties-Sarault Sar (roughing), 16:21; McGinn Gue (boarding, game misc-boarding), 17:17.

Shots on Goal-Sarnia 12-10-12-34. Guelph 14-7-11-32.
Power Play Opportunities-Sarnia 0 / 3; Guelph 0 / 2.
Goalies-Sarnia, Anderson 7-6-0-1 (32 shots-30 saves). Guelph, Sparks 11-4-0-1 (33 shots-30 saves).
A-4,048
Referees-Bob Langdon (7), Sean Pindar (3).
Linesmen-Jason Finley (37), Dustin McCrank (68).