At least the Guelph Storm’s 11-3 loss Wednesday night wasn’t the worst performance on the Hershey Centre ice Wednesday night.
That honour belonged to a fan that climbed over the glass during play in the second period and proceeded to run down the ice and slide into the Mississauga net, then run to the other end and slide into the Guelph net.
Players and officials initially just stood aside.
Nobody really seemed to know what to do with the young man, who spent about 45 seconds on the ice. Eventually he appeared to tire out and the referees quietly escorted him off the ice at the Zamboni entrance.
A welcome distraction perhaps for the Guelph faithful on what was an absolutely miserable night for the Storm.
The loss leaves Guelph at 3-5 on the season and losers of four straight.
“It’s all about limiting the damage and knowing that when one guy messes up and it’s in the back of the net you have to make up for it and get the momentum back,” Storm captain Garrett McFadden said.
Guelph actually jumped out to a 2-0 lead by the 11:13 mark of the first period on goals by Givani Smith and Liam Stevens.
But then the roof caved in.
Mississauga pumped four goals past Liam Herbst in the Storm net in the final 7:25 of the first period.
That was it for Herbst, given the hook after one period for the second straight game, but Anthony Popovich didn’t fare much better.
The Steelheads added three more in the second, surrounding a Nate Schnarr power play goal for Guelph, and four more in the third.
A brutal night for Guelph by anyone’s standards in front of an announced crowd of 1,711 but what was actually closer to 500 at best.
Guelph hasn’t given up 11 goals since Nov. 6 2014 against the London Knights.
“We’re doing the right things in getting prepared for games, that hasn’t been a problem. I just think we’re getting too comfortable out there and when we get up we start doing things that we shouldn’t let creep into our games,” McFadden said.
Storm coach Jarrod Skalde admitted that the team is having trouble stopping the bleeding when momentum shifts to the other side.
He said that’s when the team’s leaders need to step to the forefront.
“I thought for the first 10 minutes we played as good as we’ve played all season,” Skalde said. “But then the turnovers started. You could see it creep in. It gets infectious.
“We need our leadership to step up in those situations after we’ve had tough back-to-back shifts. We need to put a line out there, a grouping, that can calm things down. To me that’s leadership,” the Storm coach said.
Nathan Bastian had five assists for Mississauga. Nic Hague had a hat trick.
Former Storm goaltender Matt Mancina made 41 saves.
Jake Bricknell sat out Wednesday’s game on suspension for his match penalty Monday in Kitchener. Nick Deakin-Poot has an upper body injury and Dmitri Samorukov was a scratch. That allowed Brock Philips to get back in the Storm lineup.
Guelph’s busy October continues Friday when the Erie Otters visit the Sleeman Centre. Sunday they host the Kitchener Rangers.
Boxscore: Mississauga 11 Guelph 3.
