Almost a third of the way into the season, Zack Sandhu has emerged as the Guelph Storm's most improved player.
Now in his third season with the Storm (the first season was just 10 games with the big club), Sandhu has emerged as a reliable, low-risk defender who keeps it simple and steady.
And every now and then he chips in with some offence, like Friday night at the Sleeman Centre when he raced down the middle of the offensive zone to tip in a pass from Leo Serlin for what would prove to be the winning goal in a 3-1 win over the North Bay Battalion.
"This is a big year for me and I've gained a lot of confidence," the Toronto native said. "I feel like I've gotten better game by game and I hope to keep it going."
Turnovers and bad decisions that plagued him last season have disappeared and he rarely gets caught up ice.
"The coaches trust me and I trust myself more. I just feel better out there, more capable of doing the little things that I wasn't capable of doing before. It's a big confidence thing," Sandhu said.
Friday's win was a lesson in efficiency for the Storm.
Struggling to score goals of late, they won the way you win when the offence dries up – staying out of the penalty box, avoid surrendering odd-man rushes and paying attention to detail, particularly in the defensive and neutral zones.
It doesn't hurt to have Brayden Gillespie making 30 saves between the pipes either. Guelph had 19 shots on North Bay's Charlie Robertson.
Goals by Max Namestnikov and Sandhu had Guelph up 2-0 after two periods, with North Bay finally solving Gillespie midway through the third on a tip-in tally by Lirim Amidovski.
Braeden Bowman iced it late in the game when Battalion defenceman Ty Nelson turned the puck over just inside his own blueline with Robertson on the bench for the extra attacker.
"I think it was kind of a playoff game out there," Bowman said. "A good measuring stick and now we just have to build off it for tomorrow.
Friday's goal snapped a six-game drought for Bowman.
"Even though we lost in Barrie we've been playing well and we've been getting back to our game," said Bowman. "Hopefully it's going to snowball from here."
The three-in-three weekend continues with a 4 p.m. game Saturday at the Sleeman Centre against the league-leading Kitchener Rangers, the first of six meetings between the two this season. Sunday Guelph plays in Sarnia.
