Sunday afternoon in front of a crowd of pink in support of the Run For the Cure, the Storm in their special pink jerseys trailed early, led late and in the end came out on top in a nail biting 6-5 shootout over the Kitchener Rangers.
Jason Akeson opened the scoring in the game with a powerplay goal when he picked up a rebound and beat Matt Hoyle in the Storm goal. The Rangers thought they’d doubled their lead to 2-0 minutes later but the goal was waved off by the referee beside the net. Minutes later after a video review the referee’s call was proved right. Only seconds after having what they thought was their second goal disallowed, the Rangers would score one that would count when Michael Catenacci scored from Shane Prince for their second powerplay marker of the contest. Less than two minutes later, Francis Menard gave the home crowd something to cheer about with his first in the league from Cody McNaughton and JP Labardo. Shots on goal in the first were 17-13 in favour of Guelph.
After surrendering a third powerplay goal by the Rangers to fall behind 3-1, the Storm would strike with their first of two shorthanded tallies in the contest. Jason Akeson notched Kitchener’s third of the day and his fifth of the season at 7:50, before Taylor Beck replied for the hosts from Matt Kennedy at 10:11 of the middle stanza. The Rangers fired 21 shots on Hoyle in the second twenty but the first year netminder would keep his club within one.
Guelph would take control early in the third adding three more unanswered goals to jump on top by two with just under five minutes to play in regulation. Peter Holland started the run with his second of the season, before Adam Comrie pinched and netted the go ahead goal. Just over five minutes later with Matt Sisca in the box, Matt Kennedy picked up an errant clearing attempt by the visitors after goalie Brandon Maxwell misplayed it in his corner. Kennedy fired a hard slapshot that hit Maxwell as the rookie goalie raced to get back in the cage, but found the back of the net for his third of the season. Down a pair, the Rangers would pull the goalie in favour of the extra attacker in the final two minutes and capitalized on goals in traffic by Chris MacKinnon and Jeff Skinner.
The overtime produced seven shots combined by the Midwest rivals, but neither team had a great scoring chance in the five minutes.
In the shootout, both clubs sent three shooters without a goal before Kennedy capped off a first star effort with the shootout winner. Jason Akeson had a chance to tie the game, but Hoyle made it a perfect four for four with a stop to clinch Guelph’s first win of the young season.
Next weekend, the Storm hosts the front end of a home and home against the Niagara IceDogs on Friday, before heading to St. Catharines a night later to challenge the IceDogs in their rink. For tickets to Friday’s contest versus the IceDogs call or visit the Guelph Storm box office or visit GuelphStorm.com
Kitchener Rangers 5 at Guelph Storm 6 (SO) – Status: Final SO
Sep 27, 2009 – Sleeman Centre
Kitchener 2 1 2 0 – 5
Guelph 1 1 3 0 – 6
1st Period-1, Kitchener, Akeson 4 (Landeskog, Murphy), 8:18 (pp). 2, Kitchener, Catenacci 1 (Prince), 11:39 (pp). 3, Guelph, Menard 1 (McNaughton, Labardo), 13:11. Penalties-Comrie Gue (high sticking), 1:25; Morin Kit (elbowing, fighting), 7:10; Holland Gue (roughing), 7:10; Latta Gue (instigator, fighting), 7:10; Syvret Gue (interference), 9:43; O’Donnell Gue (slashing), 11:26; Akeson Kit (roughing), 13:31; Chiarot Gue (roughing), 13:31; McNaughton Gue (roughing), 13:31; MacKinnon Kit (slashing), 17:41.
2nd Period-4, Kitchener, Landeskog 2 (Akeson, Aleardi), 7:50 (pp). 5, Guelph, Beck 3 (Kennedy), 10:11 (sh). Penalties-O’Donnell Gue (roughing), 7:16; McNaughton Gue (slashing), 11:26.
3rd Period-6, Guelph, Holland 2 (Latta, Syvret), 5:02. 7, Guelph, Comrie 1 (Beck, Kennedy), 9:45. 8, Guelph, Kennedy 3 15:01 (sh). 9, Kitchener, MacKinnon 1 (Randell, Skinner), 19:19. 10, Kitchener, Skinner 5 (Morin), 19:53. Penalties-Chiarot Gue (tripping), 9:27; Sisca Gue (tripping), 13:51; Murphy Kit (hooking), 17:59; Latta Gue (roughing), 18:26.
OT Period- No Scoring.Penalties-No Penalties
Shootout – Kitchener 0 (MacKinnon NG, Morin NG, Skinner NG, Akeson NG), Guelph 1 (Beck NG, Holland NG, Latta NG, Kennedy G).
Shots on Goal-Kitchener 13-19-12-1-0-45. Guelph 17-14-15-2-1-49.
Power Play Opportunities-Kitchener 3 of 8; Guelph 0 of 2.
Goalies-Kitchener, Maxwell 1-0-0-1 (48 shots-43 saves). Guelph, Hoyle 1-1-0-1 (45 shots-40 saves).
A-3,592
Referees-Craig Spada (10), T.J. Luxmore (29).
Linesmen-Jesse Wilmot (72), Dave Pfohl (96).