Two late goals difference in loss

Tied at two with less than ten minutes to play on Sunday afternoon in Mississauga, the Storm surrendered a pair of late goals including an empty netter to fall 4-2 versus the St. Michael’s Majors and finish a busy three-in-three weekend.

Playing their third game in less than 48 hours, the Storm were in tough against the OHL’s top defensive club and made their task even harder when they trailed 2-0 just six minutes into the second period.  Guelph would reply with a pair of goals to even the score at two, before a David Corrente point shot through a screen beat a busy Cody St. Jacques in the Storm goal.  Shots on goal in the game were 52-22 in favour of the Majors with St. Jacques at his best in a third period where he turned aside 20 of 21 Mississauga shots.

St. Michael’s notched the lone goal of the first period when Stuart Percy’s point shot hit a couple of Storm sticks on the way through and fluttered past St. Jacques.  The Majors powerplay marker was the lone goal of the opening twenty with Mississauga outshooting the visitors 17-7, but quality scoring chances were much closer.

In the second, Mississauga would double their lead to 2-0 off the rush on Devante Smith-Pelly’s 17th of the year.  The second year power forward skated up the right wing and snapped a shot from the top of the faceoff circle that caught the inside of the far post.  Guelph would finally solve Chris Carrozzi with a powerplay marker of their own at 8:46.  Taylor Beck started the three way passing play with a feed to Michael Latta in the corner, who found Mat Sisca in front of the net for a one-time and Sisca’s ninth of the year and first of two points on the afternoon. 

The score would remain 2-1 with the Majors failing to add to it despite a couple of early five-on-three situations in the third.  The hosts had almost five consecutive minutes of powerplay time including 1:29 combined of two man advantage but St. Jacques was terrific handling every shot and hanging on to prevent a rebound opportunity.  The penalty kills looked like they could be the turning point of the game when Tim Campbell’s (pictured) long shot hit a St. Mike’s player on the way through and found the back of the net for the equalizer.  The Majors would answer back with Corrente’s goal 7:29 later and then Riley Brace picked up a Storm faceoff win that slid past the defence and into the neutral zone and fired into the empty net for some insurance.

The Storm will prepare for a couple of divisional tilts this weekend beginning Friday night in London against the Knights.  Then on Sunday afternoon, the Kitchener Rangers will come to town for a 2 pm start including a pre-game ceremony with Guelph Minor Hockey Association and the OMHA to honour the voting of Ray Scapinello and Bill McCreary to the OMHA’s All-Time team.  For tickets call or visit the Guelph Storm box office or buy online at GuelphStorm.com.

Guelph Storm 2 At Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors 4 – Status: End of Game
Nov 29, 2009 – Hershey Centre

Guelph 0 1 1 – 2
Mississauga 1 1 2 – 4

1st Period-1, Mississauga, Percy 2 (Smith-Pelly, Parlett), 16:33 (pp). Penalties-O’Donnell Gue (hooking), 14:59; Mayer Miss (hooking), 18:25.

2nd Period-2, Mississauga, Smith-Pelly 17 (Corrente, Parlett), 5:59. 3, Guelph, Sisca 9 (Latta, Beck), 8:46 (pp). Penalties-Parlett Miss (tripping), 7:27; Lopes Miss (hooking), 16:40.

3rd Period-4, Guelph, Campbell 1 (Holland, Sisca), 10:21. 5, Mississauga, Corrente 2 (Smith-Pelly), 17:50. 6, Mississauga, Brace 5 (Smith-Pelly), 19:22 (en). Penalties-Latta Gue (hooking), 1:32; Comrie Gue (cross checking), 3:19; Syvret Gue (cross checking), 4:03; Corrente Miss (cross checking), 12:47.

Shots on Goal-Guelph 7-10-6-23. Mississauga 17-13-22-52.
Power Play Opportunities-Guelph 1 of 4; Mississauga 1 of 4.
Goalies-Guelph, St. Jacques 7-6-1-0 (51 shots-48 saves). Mississauga, Carrozzi 9-2-2-0 (23 shots-21 saves).
A-1,717
Referees-Ryan Carroll (9).
Linesmen-Dave Pfohl (96), Rick Janco (46)