Storm fall in final game of 2015-16

Concluding the 2015-16 campaign in Sault Ste. Marie, the Guelph Storm dropped an 8-3 result to the Greyhounds in the 68th and final game of the season. 

Steph Coratti, GuelphStorm.com — 

The 2015-16 season has come to an end for the Guelph Storm.

Falling in an 8-3 result to the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds on Sunday afternoon, the Storm finished off the campaign with a 13-48-4-2 record. 

In the contest, Garrett McFadden was once again one of the Storm’s best players, grabbing one goal and one assist for his second consecutive two-point effort. 

Matt Hotchkiss and James McEwan both recorded two point displays as well, tallying one goal and one assist each.

For the Greyhounds, Blake Speers did the damage offensively, pocketing two goals and two assists, while registering a total of 11 shots on net.

Between the pipes, Bradley van Schubert was busy and solid, turning aside 35 of 43 shots faced. At the other end of the ice, Brandon Halverson saw 20 shots, stopped 17 in the win. 

Starting things off early, the Greyhounds opened the scoring 1:02 into the contest as rookie Liam Hawel pocketed his fourth of the season, banging home the rebound to beat Van Schubert off the rush. 

Later in the frame, a two-on-one rush the other way saw Givani Smith send a nice feed to McEwan, giving the Storm sophomore his 25th of the campaign to lock the game up at one-a-piece at the 8:49 point. 

Under five minutes later, Smith took the Storm’s third penalty of the period, awarded two minutes for interference. The Greyhounds made sure to capitalize on the advantage with Speers stepping in from the point, finding the back of the net with a shot from between the circles for his 25th tally of the season. 

Speers was at it again to start the middle frame, scoring his second of the game 12 seconds into the second. Back between the circles, Speers went five-hole on Van Schubert to extend the Greyhounds’ lead to two with his eighth shot on net. 

Over five minutes later, the Greyhounds Connor Timmins struck next, netting one from just inside the blueline, putting a shot under the crossbar to make it a 4-1 contest in favour of the home squad. 

The Storm responded under three minutes later as Hotchkiss drove the net with a nice toe-drag, only to have McFadden finish off the play with his 11th of the season at the 8:30 point of the frame, pulling the visitors to within two. 

Less than two minutes later, Brock Philips was sent to the box for checking-from-behind. On the man-advantage, the Greyhounds made it 5-2 as Bryce Yetman added his third of the campaign off of Speers’ 10th shot of the game. 

22 seconds later, the Greyhounds added another, making it a 6-2 contest as Medric Mercier netted his third of the season right off the face off. 

In the final minutes of the frame, the Storm put up a power play tally of their own while Hayden Verbeek sat for cross checking. With 2:04 remaining in the period, Hotchkiss grabbed his first goal – and his second point – of the game, scoring on the advantage off a nice feed from McEwan. McFadden also added his second point of the night on the play, getting the second assist on the goal. 

Moving into the third frame, the Greyhounds capitalized early for the third consecutive period as Tim Gettinger put the puck over Van Schubert’s glove to make it a 7-3 score 1:02 into the final 20 minutes. 

Gettinger made it two on the period just over three minutes later, squeezing the puck past Van Schubert’s pad to make it 8-3 in favour of the Greyhounds. 

With that, the Greyhounds took an 8-3 final, closing out the Storm’s 68th and final game of the 2015-16 campaign.  

GAME NOTES 

• The Storm and the Greyhounds met for the fourth and final time on Sunday afternoon. 

• The Greyhounds won the season series, 4-0.

• The Storm concluded the 2015-16 campaign against the Greyhounds on Sunday, finishing the campaign with a (13-48-4-2) record. 

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Guelph Storm 3 at Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds 8 – Status: End of Game
Sunday, March 20, 2016 – Essar Centre

Guelph 1 2 0 – 3
Sault Ste. Marie 2 4 2 – 8

1st Period-1, Sault Ste. Marie, Hawel 4 (Guertler, Speers), 1:02. 2, Guelph, McEwan 25 (Smith, Garcia), 8:49. 3, Sault Ste. Marie, Speers 25 (MacIntyre, Bouramman), 14:08 (PP).

Penalties-Stevens Gue (cross checking), 6:14; Yetman Ssm (check from behind), 6:48; Philips Gue (unsportsmanlike cnd.), 12:35; Gettinger Ssm (unsportsmanlike cnd.), 12:35; Smith Gue (inter. on goaltender), 13:10.

2nd Period-4, Sault Ste. Marie, Speers 26 (Bouramman, Hore), 0:12. 5, Sault Ste. Marie, Timmins 4 (Kopacka, Frost), 5:47. 6, Guelph, McFadden 11 (Hotchkiss), 8:30. 7, Sault Ste. Marie, Yetman 3 (Speers, Bouramman), 10:46 (PP). 8, Sault Ste. Marie, Mercier 3 (Hawel, Frost), 11:08. 9, Guelph, Hotchkiss 11 (McEwan, McFadden), 17:56 (PP).

Penalties-Sicoly Gue (roughing), 6:22; Smith Gue (misc-usc), 6:22; MacIntyre Ssm (misc-usc), 6:22; Mercier Ssm (roughing), 6:22; Philips Gue (check from behind), 10:07; Verbeek Ssm (cross checking), 17:02.

3rd Period-10, Sault Ste. Marie, Gettinger 16 (Yetman, Hollowell), 1:02. 11, Sault Ste. Marie, Gettinger 17 (Verbeek, Yetman), 4:17.

Penalties-Philips Gue (roughing), 4:55; Smith Gue (instigator), 7:25; Tokarev Ssm (roughing), 7:25; Guertler Ssm (inter. on goaltender), 9:30; DeMeo Ssm (roughing), 10:23; served by Frost Ssm (too many men), 18:23.

Shots on Goal–Guelph 7-7-6-20. Sault Ste. Marie 18-11-14-43.
Power Play Opportunities–Guelph 1 / 4; Sault Ste. Marie 2 / 4.
Goalies–Guelph, Van Schubert 0-16-1-0 (43 shots-35 saves). Sault Ste. Marie, Halverson 20-17-4-0 (20 shots-17 saves).

A-4,029
Referees-Ryan Moniz (21), Chris Carnegie (44).
Linesmen-Troy Miller (74), Marcus Policicchio (54).