It took some unlikely heroes for the Guelph Storm to pull out a win in the battle of the basements Friday night at the Sleeman Centre.
Nick Deakin-Poot scored twice, including a breakaway beauty in the third period, to help the Guelph Storm down the Barrie Colts 6-2 at the Sleeman Centre.
It was the most goals
Deakin-Poot came into the game with three goals on the season.
“I felt good in warm-up, my legs were going well and I just found my stride right away,” said the second-year
His first goal was a big of a fluke, a rebound that bounced in off his arm. The second was a breakaway after a great stretch pass from Nolan Makkonen. He almost had the hat trick, just missing on a backhand in the game’s dying seconds.
Deakin-Poot said going hard to the net is something he has to do to be successful.
“Going hard to the net and trying to win as many puck battles as I can,” he said. “There were a lot of positives in that game for everyone.”
Storm coach Jarrod Skalde said Deakin-Poot can be a huge asset when he uses his speed and size.
“When he uses his body and he uses his speed he’s a big dominant guy,” Skalde said.
“He was using his speed and outmuscling people, I thought he did a good job of that all night.”
Cedric Ralph, Givani Smith, Ryan Merkley and Barret Kirwin had the other Storm goals.
Liam Herbst made 27 saves in the Storm net, Christian Propp 34 for the Colts.
Anthony Stefano and Zach Magwood scored for
Merkley also had a pair of assist, but it was his defensive play that caught the eye of his coach.
“One of the biggest, brightest spots for me tonight was the way Ryan Merkley defended. I thought he did a good job, he blocked a big shot in the third period, he used his stick extremely well and we created offence by him playing solid defensively,” Skalde said.
Due to injuries and an eight-game suspension to Garrett McFadden, the Storm played the game with just five defencemen – four of them rookies.
