It's not often a goalie that allows six goals in regulation gets called on for a post-game interview.
But rookie Guelph Storm netminder Brayden Gillespie saved his best for last Friday night, making a great save in the final three minutes to give his teammates an opportunity to tie the game, then made several big saves in the five minute overtime before stopping all three Sarnia Sting shooters in the shootout.
The end result, a 7-6 shootout win for the Guelph Storm before its biggest crowd of the year at the Sleeman Centre.
It was the fourth time this season that Gillespie has been in net for a shootout victory.
"I love them. They're the best things ever. It's so much fun to win in those," said Gillespie after the win.
"The team battles back for me. I couldn't be more proud of that team in there. They deserve it," he said, nodding toward the jubilant dressing room.
"It's just confidence and being relaxed. I know the guys are going to score a goal."
Gillespie admits some of the goals in regulation were on him, so he was glad to get the opportunity to help his team win it.
"Scoring two goals in the final three minutes was just so much fun to see."
It was a thriller, played out before a crowd of 4,889, with the Storm down by two late in the game before scoring twice in the final 2:41 of regulation, both times with the goalie pulled, to force overtime.
After nothing was decided in that five minutes of action, Braeden Bowman scored the lone goal of the shootout and Gillespie stopped Luca Del Bel Belluz, Sasha Pastujov and Christian Kyrou – a combined 94 goals between them this season – at the other end.
Bowman had five points in the game, including a pair of goals. Max Namestnikov also scored against his former team. Cooper Walker and Cam Allen had the other Guelph goals and Matt Poitras had three assists.
"It's not over until the last buzzer and we just keep playing hard, doing our jobs and sticking with the process. It's a 60-minute game for a reason," Bowman said.
"We know we can do it, we know we can compete with these guys. We just have to keep playing our game."
Sitting in sixth place, Guelph has four games left in the regular season: Saturday in Erie, Wednesday in Windsor, Friday at home against Erie and wrapping up the regular season Saturday, March 25 in Saginaw.
