Storm doubles up Battalion

The Guelph Storm swept their two-game season series against the Brampton Battalion with a 4-2 win in front of 4,269 fans at the Sleeman Centre on Friday night.

Rookie goaltender Garret Sparks outdueled former Storm netminder Cody St. Jacques in the Brampton net to earn his first win since January 28th.  At the other end of the ice, four different Storm players scored to pace the attack.

After a scoreless period, the two clubs exchanged powerplay goals under three minutes apart.  Francis Menard started the scoring with a rebound goal on the doorstep and Scott Tanski followed it up with a rebound goal of his own from just outside the blue paint.  At 10:45 of the second, Guelph grabbed the lead for good.  After his first attempt hit a Brampton defender in the slot, Michael Latta picked up the loose puck and buried his 29th of the year past St. Jacques.  Shots on goal after 40 minutes were 23-20 in favour of the Storm.

In the third, Richard Panek scored the eventual game winner on a long hard shot that St. Jacques couldn’t handle with former Battalion blueliner Kyle Periera collecting the lone helper.  With 9:43 remaining in the final stanza, Tanski would make it interesting with his second of the night moments after Scott Kosmachuk stepped out of the box.  Then after Brampton pulled the goalie in the final two minutes to make it a six on four with Peter Holland in the box, the Storm managed to kill off the powerplay and eventually Zack Mitchell intercepted a Battalion clearing attempt and notched his fourth of the year into the empty net.

The Storm win helps their cause for one night as the two clubs directly ahead of them in the standings each dropped decisions on Friday.  The two points leaves Guelph only one behind Erie for seventh and four behind sixth place London.  Sunday afternoon, the Storm will look to inch closer to the Knights at the John Labatt Centre in a 2 pm start.  The next home action at the Sleeman Centre will be a week Friday when the Peterborough Petes come to town followed by the annual Monday afternoon game on the Family Day holiday at 2 pm.

Brampton Battalion 2 at Guelph Storm 4 – Status: Final
Friday, February 11, 2011 – Sleeman Centre

Brampton 0 1 1 – 2
Guelph 0 2 2 – 4

1st Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Bell Bra (elbowing), 0:34; Kosmachuk Gue (tripping), 6:47; Auld Bra (hooking), 8:37; Thorne Bra (high sticking), 19:58.

2nd Period-1, Guelph, Menard 8 (McNaughton, Holland), 1:29 (PP). 2, Brampton, Tanski 14 (Blujus, Carrick), 4:02 (PP). 3, Guelph, Latta 29 (Finn), 10:45. Penalties-Mitchell Gue (interference), 2:18.

3rd Period-4, Guelph, Panik 26 (Pereira), 7:43. 5, Brampton, Tanski 15 (Thorne, McNaughton), 10:17. 6, Guelph, Mitchell 4   19:52 (EN). Penalties-Erlich Gue (holding opp. stick), 0:37; Kosmachuk Gue (holding), 8:15; Latta Gue (inter. on goaltender), 13:14; Blujus Bra (interference), 13:29; Holland Gue (slashing), 17:02.

Shots on Goal-Brampton 9-11-8-28. Guelph 9-14-7-30.
Power Play Opportunities-Brampton 1 / 6; Guelph 1 / 4.
Goalies-Brampton, St. Jacques 8-10-0-0 (29 shots-26 saves). Guelph, Sparks 5-4-0-0 (28 shots-26 saves).
A-4,269
Referees-Sean McQuigge (18), Joe Monette (25).
Linesmen-Dustin McCrank (68), Glenn Anderson (97).