Storm team achieved much
Guelph Mercury Editorial-Ending an Ontario Hockey League season with a loss is tough. Ending it at home with a loss is more difficult. And ending it with a home-game, overtime playoff loss — after being up two games in the series — is even more so.
But few local Guelph Storm fans are too overwrought about these being the circumstances of the denouement to the team’s 2011-12 season.
That’s quite understandable. Supporters of the team are disappointed that this year’s edition of the team is through for the season. But they’re probably at least as proud of what the club achieved this season and excited at the prospect of what it appears poised to do very soon.
This year’s Guelph Storm likely surpassed the expectations of many within the organization. The team wasn’t heading into the year stacked with star veteran players. It had high hopes for several younger new arrivals, but not one of them was a proven gamer in this league.
Several league observers wondered whether the lineup would be a sure bet to miss the playoffs.
Well, the assembled players proved a plucky team that dealt with its share of adversity, early-year jitters and rough patches, and it stayed together and on the same page. Management deserves some praise for honouring the long-term plan and not installing overager Daniel Erlich when he became available to them in mid-season, though that might have yielded a short-term upside.
