What has been obvious for quite some time is now official for the Guelph Storm: for the second consecutive season there will be no playoff appearance.
A 6-0 loss to the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds Friday night at the Sleeman Centre officially eliminated them from playoff contention with eight regular season games remaining.
What ended up as a one-sided affair Friday certainly didn’t start out that way.
The Storm outplayed Sault Ste. Marie in the opening 20 minutes, outshooting them 15-10.
“I thought we played very structured, I thought we carried the pace, we outshot them and we out-chanced them,” said Storm coach Jarrod Skalde.
“But one turnover at the offensive blue line and it’s 1-0 and you can just feel the momentum change on our bench and try to get back to where we were and it was difficult.”
The lone goal of the period, by Zac Senyshyn, came after
But things certainly turned around after that.
The Soo completely dominated the rest of the game, scoring three in the second and two in the third.
“We came out a little flat. Maybe we take the bottom teams for granted,” said former Storm defenceman Noah Carroll, who was traded to the Sault earlier this season.
“But we got refocused: play our game, don’t play their game. They were trapping us, but just use our speed,” Carroll said.
Matt Villalta made 37 saves for the Soo for his first shutout of the season.
Guelph threw everything but the kitchen sink at him in the third period, with Skalde even pulling goaltender Liam Herbst with over 11 minutes left in the period and Guelph trailing 4-0.
“I was going to try and get seven guys out there but I couldn’t,” deadpanned Skalde.
Carroll said he feels a little rejuvenated after being traded to the Soo earlier this season, the first time in his four-year career he has been traded.
“No panic in the room,” he said of one of the big differences in going to an experienced team that knows how to win.
Personally, he can stay more within himself.
“In
The Storm plays in
