The Guelph Storm managed to solve some scoring woes as they finally found the back of the net for the first time in the 2015-16 Ontario Hockey League regular season but were still no match for the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds who doubled up 8-4 on the Storm Friday night in front of 4,462 at the Sleeman Centre.
Guelph’s goaltending and defense had been one of the bright points in their opening two games of the regular season that saw them fall by 3-0 and 1-0 scores but on this night it would prove to be their weakness as the Greyhounds wasted no time getting on the scoreboard. Just 1:08 into the opening frame Boris Katchouk from nearby Waterloo would tip a Tim Gettinger shot past former Hounds goaltender Justin Nichols for the early 1-0 advantage. Colton White would be the next to find the back of the net as his point shot found its way through a sea of bodies and past Nichols just nine seconds into a Sault Ste. Marie power play opportunity at the 11:47 mark. It would take just another 24 seconds for the Hounds to strike again as a Gabe Guertler shot would deflect of a Storm stick and over the hand of Nichols who’s night would come to an abrupt end after stopping 13 of 16 shots.
Bradley Van Schubert would see his first regular season action stopping 8 shots over the remaining 8 minutes of the first period as the Hounds enjoyed a 3-0 advantage on the scoreboard.
The Storm appeared to have their best chance to break through on the score sheet when first year import forward Vladislav Barulin was awarded a penalty shot at the 4:25 mark. Barulin did manage to beat Greyhounds netminder Joseph Raaymakers but missed the net on the backhanded attempt.
It wasn’t long after however when the Guelph Storm would finally find the back of the net with James McEwan powering past the Hounds defence to break in all alone and fire a shot past Raaymakers for the first Storm goal of the season at 7:16. Swiss forward Timo Haussener picked up his first career point with the lone assist on the goal. While it took the Storm exactly 151 minutes of playing time to score their first goal of the year it only took another 56 seconds to score once again. Vladislav Barulin after missing on the penalty shot just minutes prior would notch his first career OHL goal with a backhander through Raaymakers after a nice dipsy-doodle through the slot after a good effort from Matthew Hotchkiss to keep the puck in the Hounds zone. While the Storm had brought the score to within one it would not last long as Bobby MacIntyre would break in just 1:13 later with a great solo effort to beat Van Schubert and bring the score to 4-2. Luke Burghardt would bring the Storm to within one once again with a power play marker at 13:58 on a cross crease pass from Givani Smith. It once again didn’t take the Greyhounds long to restore their two goal lead as Boris Katchouk collected his second goal of the evening on a shot that was initially stopped by Van Schubert that would go straight into the air and fall into the Guelph cage for a 5-3 Greyhounds advantage through 40 minutes.
Any hope of a Guelph Storm comeback was shattered with three Sault Ste. Marie goals in the opening 3:54 of the final period on goals from Jack Kopacka, Zach Senyshyn and Gustav Bouramman.
James McEwan would round out the scoring on the night with a second breakaway goal with just four seconds remaining in the game with the Storm killing a 5 on 3 Greyhounds advantage to bring the final score to 8-4 in favour of the Hounds.
Joseph Raaymakers stopped 23 of 27 Storm shots for the victory while Bradley Van Schubert turned aside 29 of the 34 Sault Ste. Marie shots he faced.
Guelph will next see action on Saturday when they visit the Dow Event Center to take on the Saginaw Spirit who are the only other OHL team without a win thus far in 2015-16. The Storm return home on Friday, October 9th for their second of eight season meetings against the Owen Sound Attack for a 7:30PM start.
Storm Notes:
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Guelph drops their overall record to 0-3-0-0
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Guelph’s home ice record drops to 0-2-0-0
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Both teams finished the game 1 for 4 on the power play
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Vladislav Barulin led the way with 7 shots on goal for the Storm, Timo Haussener and James McEwan each had 3
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The Storm were the final team to score their first goal of the 2015-16 OHL season
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While Guelph and Saginaw are the only teams without wins Owen Sound and Erie are the only teams in the league without a loss of any kind, both stand at 3-0-0-0
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The last time the Storm began a season 0-3 was 2009/10 which included 2 home losses, they would win their next 6 games
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Including playoffs the Storm have now lost 9 straight games against the Greyhounds
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Guelph’s most recent win against the Hounds was on March 2, 2014 in the Soo, a 4-3 triumph
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Guelph’s most recent home victory against the Hounds was by a 5-3 score on January 3, 2014
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The Storm will not see the Greyhounds again until a scheduled January 22, 2016 visit to Sault Ste. Marie
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Sault Ste. Marie will return to the Sleeman Centre on March 6, 2016
