Guelph Storm coach/general manager George Burnett has some decisions to make.
Once Sasha Pastujov comes back from the Anaheim Ducks training camp, the Storm will have 27 players still in camp, with opening night set for Friday in Kitchener.
That leaves 26 players that Burnett will likely whittle down to 23 by the start of the season.
Rookie forward Chase Coughlan is out two to three weeks with an upper body injury and defenceman Zach Sandhu is already ticketed for the junior B Ayr Centennials.
That still means two, possibly three, cuts to come.
“We’ve got strength in numbers, but we’re still working hard to find out who’s going to start the season and we’re going to have to make some tough decisions in the next few days,” Burnett said.
“Twenty two in a normal year is probably the ideal number, one extra forward and one extra defenceman, but I don’t think this can be considered a normal year.
“People have to play. We’re going to try to be as fair to everybody as we can, but we have to figure it out.”
One of the tougher calls has to come in goal, where returnee Owen Bennett is the likely starter and the back-up job is being fought out between 17-year-old Jacob Oster and 18-year-old Dixon Grimes.
Bennett went the distance Friday night as the Storm wrapped up its pre-season with a 7-4 win over the Mississauga Steelheads at the Sleeman Centre. They finish the pre-season with a 5-1 record.
“We’re not going to have three goaltenders on the team,” Burnett said. “We want three that can play, and I think we do have three that are capable of playing in this league, but everybody needs to play if the development curve is going to go in the right direction.
“Sitting on the sidelines for multiple games in a row is not a healthy thing this year, especially after missing a year last year.”
Braeden Bowman had two goals, both in the third period, and an assist to lead the offence. Michael Bianconi, Cam Allen, Danny Zhilkin, Jake Karabela and Matt Papais had the other goals. Matt Poitras had two assists.
Guelph led 2-0 after one period and 5-2 after two.
“There was some young mistakes, but I’m proud of the way the kids have handled themselves in the pre-season,’ said Burnett, noting there are currently 15 players on the roster who have never played an OHL game.
“We’re not going to reinvent the wheel in four days next week, but we’ve got a lot of work ahead of us because the games are going to get a lot tougher.
“When you’ve got 15 kids who’ve never been through this experience before, there’s going to be some growing pains. But we’ll learn from it and we’ll get better every day.”
Guelph opens its regular season Friday on the road against the Kitchener Rangers then hosts the Rangers Saturday night in its home opener.
