A five goal offensive explosion in the second period powered the Sarnia Sting to a 6-2 triumph over the Guelph Storm Friday night in front of 3,829 at the Sleeman Centre as the Storm fell farther into the Ontario Hockey League’s basement.

The Guelph Storm spent a majority of the opening twenty minutes in the penalty box as the Sting enjoyed four seperate power plays druing the frame. Sarnia would strike just 12 seconds into their third powerplay during a scramble in front of Michael Giugovaz, the puck eventually landed on the stick of Nikita Korostelev who’s spin a round shot hit the leg of a Storm player which sent the disc past Giugovaz for the 1-0 advantage at 8:37.

Giugovaz would keep the Sting at bay for the rest of the opening period which despite the 1-0 scoreline was totally dominated by the Sting in the possesion game.

While the Storm faithful hoped for a better effort during the second period it would turn into a total disaster that couldn’t have gone worse.

Korostelev would pot his second goal of the night after taking a cross ice pass from Travis Konecney and fired a laser off the post and in on the glove side of Giugovaz at 1:41. Just 39 seconds later Jordan Kyrou would sneak past Storm defenceman Garrett McFadden and would fake out Giugovaz for the quick 3-0 spread.

Less than three minutes later at 5:03 Travis Konecney would give the Sting a 4-0 lead when his shot from the faceoff dot to the left of Giugovaz would go right past the Storm netminder.

Patrick White would get in on the scoring action at 13:52 pouncing on a rebound after Giugovaz was forced to stop an impressive rush by Noah Bushnell.

While it had appeared that the scoring had wrapped up for the period Guelph was about to find out that on this night when it rains it pours. During a late power play opportunity for the Sting, Liam Stevens found himself bent over just to the right of Giugovaz to pick up his errant stick. As Stevens straighted back upright Travis Konecney fired a shot from the point that appeared to be headed wide of the net but would instead hit Stevens right in the face, the puck then redirected from the face of Stevens right into the net with just 3 seconds remaining in the period to make it 6-0 Sarnia. While Stevens left the ice quickly he did return to action for the third period.

One player who did not return for the third period was Michael Giugovaz who after allowing 6 goals on 31 shots gave way to Bradley Van Schubert for the rest of the night. While it would have been quite easy for the Storm to fold the tent and head for the house they would do the opposite on this night. As the puck dropped for the final period to commence the Storm bench visibly was highly motivated for what was to come. It wouldn’t take Guelph much longer to finally break the shutout bid of Sting goaltender Justin Fazio. Luke Burghardt would be the one to put the Storm on the board as he picked up the puck at centre ice and streaked in to deke right around a Sting defender and put the puck through Fazio at 4:38. The large gap between the two teams would not stop Guelph from trying to chip away more as Isaac Ratcliffe would collect his fourth goal of the campaign after a lengthy scramble in the Sting crease at 13:38. While the Storm failed to get closer and did fall by a final score of 6-2 there did seem to be a sense of not giving up when it would have been quite easy to and perhaps a sense of pride was on the line as the Storm prepare for the rest of their weekend. Bradley Van Schubert only had to face 7 Sting shots during the final 20 minutes but did make a pair of impressive saves.

The Storm won’t have much time to dwell on their loss as they return to action Saturday night when they make their only visit of the season to the Barrie Molson Centre to take on the Colts at 7:30PM. The Storm return to the Sleeman Centre on Family Day Monday to take on the OHL leading Erie Otters at 2PM.

STORM NOTES:

• Guelph’s overall record falls to 11-34-4-2

• Guelph’s home record falls to 8-16-1-1

• The Storm were 0 for 4 on the PP while Sarnia was 2 for 6

• Kyle West took part in a very spirited third period fight with heavyweight Noah Bushnell who scored the takedown

• CJ Garcia and James McEwan both fired a team high 6 shots on goal

• James McEwan was an impressive 17 for 27 in the faceoff circle

• Marc Stevens was also a very impressive 8 for 10 on the draw

• Luke Burghardt is on a 3 game goal streak

• Isaac Ratcliffe’s goal was his first since a penalty shot marker back on December 2 in Erie, a stretch of 11 games as well as missing 6 weeks with a high ankle sprain suffered a week after the goal

• Jake Bricknell’s assist on the Ratcliffe goal snapped a 5 game pointless streak

• McEwan’s assist on the Ratcliffe goal puts him now at 20 goals and 20 assists for 40 points which leads the Storm, he sits 9pts ahead of Givani Smith

• Luke Burghardt’s goal was his 14^th of the year, third on the team behind only McEwan and Smith, those are the only 3 players who have at least 10 goals on the team

• Christian Mieritz returned to the lineup after missing 6 games due to an injury suffered on January 22^nd in Sault Ste. Marie

• The Storm loss combined with a Sudbury victory on Friday night now has Guelph 6 points behind the Wolves for last in the OHL

• The Storm are now 0-2 against the Sting this year after suffering a 7-0 loss in Sarnia back on November 14^th

• The Storm have been outscored in their season series with Sarnia by a margin of 13-2

• The Storm will make their final trip to Sarnia on Sunday, February 28^th while the 4 game season series will wrap up in Guelph on Tuesday, March 15^th