Whether or not the approaching OHL trade deadline is preying on anyone's mind right now in the Guelph Storm dressing room depends on who you ask.
The deadline for deals is Jan. 10 (Jan. 9 for overage players) and the likelihood of the Storm roster looking exactly like the one that lost 5-2 Friday to the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds is highly unlikely.
Guelph sits in fifth place in the Western Conference with four very strong teams above them that will all likely be adding players at the deadline.
"I can't speak for them directly, I can only speak from my past experience as a player and absolutely those things are on athlete's minds, especially young athletes," Wiseman said.
"I guess it depends on the individual and the situation, but it absolutely can be a distraction."
Storm captain Braeden Bowman downplayed any effect the deadline has, at least once the players are at the rink.
"Maybe a little bit (of a distraction), but when we come to the rink it's just business as usual," Bowman said.
"We try not to worry about it too much. We're going to play the best hockey we can with the guys we've got in that room right now and if something changes the guys are going to play hard no matter who's in the lineup."
Friday's loss was a showcase of how the little things matter when you're playing a fast, disciplined team like the Hounds.
Not that the Storm effort wasn't there, but some small mistakes led to at least three of the Soo goals: a rebound that was poked home when goaltender Brayden Gillespie thought he had it smothered, a terrible turnover leading to a goal when a dog-tired Jake Karabela got his wires crossed with teammate Chandler Romeo behind the Storm net and a cross-checking penalty to Ryan McGuire with two seconds left in the first period that the Soo eventually turned into a goal.
"They're a good hockey team: well structured and good on the power play," Storm coach Chad Wiseman said.
"There's not a lot of room for error and turnovers tonight killed us. The lack of willingness or ability to advance pucks in behind their D and forecheck and the few times it hurt us the puck ended up in our net.
"They're an incredibly fast team and you can't let them get behind you."
Guelph had its chances, but an 0-for-4 showing on the power play and at least two dinged goalposts didn't help their situation.
It was a 1-1 game after 20 minutes before the Soo pulled ahead 4-2 after two periods.
Jett Luchanko and Bowman had the Storm goals. Brayden Gillespie, not quite as sharp as usual on this night, let in five goals on 34 shots.
Elmira native Brady Martin paced the Soo offence with a goal and an assist. Brenden Sirizzotti, Travis Hayes, Alex Kostov and Justin Cloutier had the Hounds other goals.
"They play hard, they play fast, they're a good structured team and they work hard," said Bowman of the Soo. "They make you pay if you don't do the right things all the time."
Guelph plays in Owen Sound Saturday night and at home against Sarnia Sunday afternoon in a four o'clock start.
