Despite being all alone in first place in the Western Conference, don't expect the Guelph Storm to be adding older players at the trade deadline.
Instead they are more likely to be getting calls from other teams about its own top players.
Following Sunday's 4-3 at the Sleeman Centre, Storm general manager/coach George Burnett said the team will be sticking to the plan it laid out before the season.
"I think we had a plan formulated before we started this season and I don't think we're going to waiver a whole lot from it," Burnett said when asked about plans leading up to deadline, which is Jan. 9 for overage players and Jan. 10 for everyone else.
"Are we looking to move a whole bunch of players? No. That's not our intention and not a priority.
"It's safe to say that we're a little further ahead in the standings than we anticipated, which is great for development. But I've got to do a better job of making sure our younger players continue to play in the second half ... so that when we get back together next September, everybody's that much further ahead."
Burnett said there are "lots of discussions."
"But we're listening, we're asking lots of questions, but that's typical of this time .... I can't say we're anxious to change our team completely, that's not going to happen."
He said the Storm has pretty much recouped most of its own picks traded away in last year's run for the OHL championship, so there is no real need to recoup draft picks.
Burnett said the team does have the need for 2001 birth year players, but there aren't many out there who are available or fit the team's long-term plan.
"Who knows what's going to happen here. I can see a couple of teams adding and some teams maybe changing their thinking based on some teams making some additions."
Sunday's win over Hamilton gives the Storm 46 points on the season, two ahead of the Saginaw Spirit.
Cedric Ralph scored the winner, breaking a 3-3 tie at 13:11 of the third period when he one-timed a pass from Jacob Roach at the side of the Hamilton net, finishing off a shift that saw some great work by Roach and Keegan Stevenson.
Ralph, who had missed Guelph's last 11 games before the Christmas break with an upper body injury, found his legs a little heavy after playing Saturday in Peterborough then Sunday at home.
"I got one full practice in on Friday," Ralph said feeling a little tired. "I definitely felt it at the end of the Peterborough game and then the quick turnaround back here Sunday I felt it."
Guelph led 3-1 after the first period and the Bulldogs tied it up with two unanswered goals in the second.
Ralph said the team had a talk in the room after a shaky second period about how the team needed to get pucks deep and cycling the puck.
"Once you start doing those things, everybody gets a lot of flow," Ralph said.
Eric Uba had a pair for the Storm and Pavel Gogolev scored for the eighth straight game, giving him 26 on the season, second most in the OHL.
Owen Bennett made 27 saves in the Storm net.
Guelph plays in Barrie on New Year's Eve and hosts the Peterborough Petes on Friday.
