Storm rallies in final minutes for thrilling win

By Tony Saxon, Guelph Mercury – Just call him Andre The Giant.

With his team’s back to the wall, Andrey Pedan took the Guelph Storm on his shoulders last night to lead the Storm to a 3-2 win and get them back in the series against the Kitchener Rangers.

With time winding down in the third period, the big Russian scored a pair of goals 3:20 apart to tie the game and was on the ice as teammate Scott Kosmachuk scored the winner with just under two minutes left in regulation at the Sleeman Centre.

Kitchener still leads the best-of-seven series 2-1 with Game 4 set for Guelph on Thursday. The result, which played out before a crowd of 4,198, also guarantees a Game 5 Friday night in Kitchener.

“That’s the best experience I’ve ever had in Guelph,” said Pedan.

He almost got the hat trick, ringing one off the post with the Kitchener goaltender on the bench for the extra attacker. Pedan also put one off the crossbar in the second period.

“We didn’t give up and stop playing after we got down 2-0. We just dug down, kept playing hard and finally we got some lucky bounces.”

Storm coach Scott Walker has raved about Pedan for some time. He had even more reason to Tuesday night.

“What can you say about this guy? I’ve loved this guy since I got here,” Walker said.

“He wants to win. He stomped on the bus after Game 2 because winning and losing is the difference for this guy and it’s awesome to see. It will make him a National Hockey League player some day.”

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Kitchener Rangers 2 at Guelph Storm 3 – Status: Final
Tuesday, March 26, 2013 – Sleeman Centre

Kitchener 1 0 1 – 2
Guelph 0 0 3 – 3

1st Period-1, Kitchener, Thomson 1 (Rieder), 12:31. Penalties-Pedan Gue (cross checking), 2:51; Richard Gue (high sticking), 5:59; Murphy Kit (interference), 6:39; Iafrate Kit (roughing), 8:45; Richard Gue (check to the head), 9:44; McEneny Kit (high sticking), 10:30; Thomson Kit (unsportsmanlike cnd.), 14:34; McNaughton Gue (unsportsmanlike cnd.), 14:34; McEneny Kit (interference), 17:55.

2nd Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Posa Gue (tripping), 7:34; Meighan Kit (holding), 10:25; Meighan Kit (hooking), 13:47; Faksa Kit (interference), 14:29; Pedan Gue (unsportsmanlike cnd., misc-usc), 16:10.

3rd Period-2, Kitchener, Faksa 1 (Murphy , Ming), 8:56. 3, Guelph, Pedan 2   14:30. 4, Guelph, Pedan 3 (Richard), 17:50. 5, Guelph, Kosmachuk 1 (Beukeboom, Fabbri), 18:11. Penalties-Murphy Kit (interference), 1:54; Iafrate Kit (interference), 6:29; Bertuzzi Gue (interference), 10:35; Schoenmakers Kit (roughing), 11:44; Alberga Kit (unsportsmanlike cnd.), 14:30; Mitchell Gue (unsportsmanlike cnd.), 14:30; Corrado Kit (roughing), 18:55; Posa Gue (roughing), 18:55.

Shots on Goal-Kitchener 10-8-17-35. Guelph 8-14-21-43.
Power Play Opportunities-Kitchener 0 / 5; Guelph 0 / 10.
Goalies-Kitchener, Gibson 2-1-0-0 (43 shots-40 saves). Guelph, Sparks 1-2-0-0 (35 shots-33 saves).
A-4,198
Referees-Scott Oakman (23), Kendrick Nicholson (22).
Linesmen-Matthew Traub (50), Dave Pfohl (96).