Storm rolls through Sault Ste. Marie (Updated)

Just feet from the Soo Greyhounds dressing room, the disappointment in coach Mike Stapleton’s voice said it all.

The Greyhounds dropped a 7-1 decision to the Guelph Storm on Sunday night in what Stapleton called the Greyhounds worst game of the season.

“100 per cent it is (the worst),” said Stapleton. “It was the most frustrating 60 minutes we’ve played.”

The Storm entered the game having played the two previous nights – at home on Friday night and Saturday night in Saginaw, both wins. The win also gave the Storm their fifth straight win as well as their eighth win in 10 games.

“It didn’t matter that they played three games in three days,” said Stapleton. “They come out the same way, no matter what.

Said Storm coach Scott Walker: “You never know in junior hockey. Sometimes when you’re on a roll some guys want to just keep playing. Sometimes practicing is the worst thing for you. Sometimes people think playing more hurts. It all depends. If we would have gotten shellacked, we would have said it was because of the three-in-three.”

Andrey Pedan had a goal and two assists for the Storm in the win as Guelph built up a 4-0 lead through one period and cruised to the win. Hunter Garlent, Brock McGinn and Justin Auger had a goal and an assist each in the win while Daniel Poliziani, Tyler Bertuzzi and Scott Kosmachuk also scored. Tanner Richard had a pair of assists for the Storm.

“We’ve got a lot of guys that can skate and play a high tempo game,” said Walker. “We’ve gotten a little bit of scoring spread out. There’s still things we need to shore up on but all-in-all it was a pretty good weekend.”

Thanks to the seven-goal outburst, the Storm finished their three-game weekend with 21 goals in three wins.

Matt Fuller scored the lone goal for the Greyhounds in the loss. Russian-born forward Sergey Tolchinsky was turned aside by Garret Sparks on a breakaway in the opening minute of the game.

“If he puts that chance in, it gives us some momentum,” said Stapleton. “Instead, they come back down and put it in our net and it put us back on our heels.”

The Greyhounds now end off the month of October with a three-game road trip that opens on Thursday night in St. Catharines when they take on the Niagara IceDogs. The following night, the Greyhounds take on the Erie Otters before wrapping up the trip on Sunday afternoon against Guelph.

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OTHER SCORES

In Brampton, Blake Clarke had a goal and two assists to lead the Brampton Battalion to a 4-1 win over the Barrie Colts. Brenden Miller added a pair of assists for the Battalion. Aaron Ekblad scored the lone goal for the Colts.

In Sudbury, Olli Maatta had a goal and two assists as the London Knights beat the Sudbury Wolves 5-3. Knights goaltender Kevin Baillie stopped 35 shots. Frank Corrado had two assists for the Wolves in the loss.

In Oshawa, Cody Payne scored a pair of goals to lead the Plymouth Whalers to a 4-2 win over the Oshawa Generals. Goaltender Matt Mahalak stopped 29 shots in the win. Scott Sabourin and Colin Suellentrop scored for Oshawa in the loss.

In Kitchener, Justin Bailey scored a pair of goals while Ryan Murphy had a goal and two assists as the Kitchener Rangers beat the Kingston Frontenacs 5-2. Tobias Rieder also had a goal and two assists. Frontenacs goaltender Mike Morrison made 35 saves in the loss while John Gibson stopped 41 shots for Kitchener.

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