Storm post opening victory at Memorial Cup

Brendan Zwambag, Guelphstorm.com —

The Guelph Storm opened the 2014 Memorial Cup Championships with a win.

Brock McGinn fired a laser wrist shot just under the the bar at 14:52 of the second period to give Guelph a 3-2 lead over the Edmonton Oil Kings.

Justin Nichols shut the door and Tyler Bertuzzi added two insurance markers in the third as Guelph claimed  5-2 victory.

Kerby Rychel got the ball rolling with four seconds remaining in the first period. The Columbus first rounder potted a rebound on the powerplay after Zac Leslie’s point shot was blocked.

A 27 second hiccup by Nichols and the Storm had the OHL champs stunned.

Henrik Samuelsson’s floating backhander from a weak angle beat Nichols over the shoulder on the short side and Ashton Sautner tapped in a beautiful cross ice pass from Curtis Lazar to make it 2-1 Oil Kings.

Rychel continued his dominant play if late with his second powerplay goal of the game. The big winger followed up his own dump in and a clearing attempt from an Edmonton defender went off Rychel and in to an empty cage.

McGinn then picked up a Nick Ebert drop pass and used tge defender as a screen.

Bertuzzi picked the top left corner from the slot and then again from the left wing to put the game out of reach.

Nichols recovered well from the quick goals and finished with 37 saves.

Guelph’s next game is Monday against Val’dor, the champions of the Quebec league and winner of the Memorial Cup opener against London.

 

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Guelph Storm 5 at Edmonton Oil Kings 2 – Status Final
Saturday, May 17, 2014 – Budweiser Gardens

Guelph 1 2 2 – 5
Edmonton 0 2 0 – 2

1st Game Period-1, Guelph, Rychel 1 (Leslie, Trojanovic), 19:55 (PP). Penalties-Horvat Gue (fighting), 3:56; Orban Edm (fighting), 3:56; Harpur Gue (cross checking), 10:26; Kieser Edm (slashing), 10:26; Harpur Gue (cross checking), 13:09; Irving Edm (roughing), 19:01.

2nd Game Period-2, Edmonton, Henrik 1   1:19. 3, Edmonton, Sautner 1 (Lazar), 1:46. 4, Guelph, Rychel 2   7:40 (PP). 5, Guelph, McGinn 1 (Ebert, Dickinson), 14:52. Penalties-Bertuzzi Gue (inter. on goaltender), 2:22; Reinhart Edm (interference), 6:24; Suter Gue (cross checking), 16:51.

3rd Game Period-6, Guelph, Bertuzzi 1 (Ebert), 5:46. 7, Guelph, Bertuzzi 2 (Horvat), 15:49. Penalties-Orban Edm (slashing), 16:09; Bauman Gue (interference), 18:35; Finn Gue (cross checking), 19:54.

Shots on Goal-Guelph 10-11-11-32. Edmonton 10-15-14-39.
Power Play Opportunities-Guelph 2/3; Edmonton 0/5.
Goalies-Guelph, Nichols 1-0-0-0 (39 shots-37 saves). Edmonton, Jarry 0-1-0-0 (32 shots-27 saves).
A-8,824
Referees-Mario Maillet (21), Sean Reid (26).
Linesmen-Cory Piche (87), Jordan Browne (93).