It was a crazy, crazy Saturday night at the Sleeman Centre.
Facing their Highway 7 rival Kitchener Rangers for the first time this season – a Rangers team atop the OHL standings and ranked fourth in the country – Guelph matched its season high for goals in a game in a 8-6 victory.
There was a laundry list of whackiness in this one:
- Guelph trailed 5-2 before reeling off six unanswered goals
- the usually-rock solid Brayden Gillespie got the hook after allowing four goals on 14 shots in the first period
- his replacement, Damian Slavik, saw his first action of the season at home and first action of any kind in three weeks
- Kitchener yanked its starting goaltender, Tristan Malboeuf, but not until midway through the third period and seven goals allowed
- three goals went to lengthy reviews
- Storm coach Chad Wiseman with a rare paint-peeling talk with the team between the first and second periods
- Swedish import Vilmer Alriksson dropped the gloves with Kitchener overager Roman Schmidt in a long and busy battle
Basically there were more storylines than you'd see in a month of games.
"That was pretty crazy. We weren't expecting that coming into it," said the Storm's Jake Karabela.
"Chad came in and talked to us, which we deserved, and I think that our response was pretty great."
Karabela (goal, three assists) and Braeden Bowman (three goals, one assist) led the attack with four-point nights. Zack Sandhu, Jett Luchanko, Max Namestnikov and Michael Buchinger had the other Guelph goals as five players had multi-point games.
Not lost on his teammates was the effect the Alriksson/Schmidt fight had on the team and the crowd.
"That was a pretty heavyweight tilt there. That was pretty awesome by him. That got the boys going for sure. The bench erupted and the crowd erupted," Karabela said.
Namestnikov's low wrister proved to be the eventual game winner, coming at 8:34 of the third.
Simon Motew led Kitchener with a goal and two assists.
OHL leading scorer Carson Rehkopf was held to a single assist.
Storm coach Chad Wiseman said the stern talking to after 20 minutes was needed.
"I think we needed to shake it up a bit. Getting upset or angry doesn't work very often, but it was one of those moments where they knew I wasn't real happy. I challenged them and they responded."
Wiseman had high praise for the way his team didn't completely fold when down 5-2.
"That game could have gone in a different direction today, but the resilience and character we showed to stay with it and battle back is a testament to the leadership in that room.
"That character and resiliency that we showed today is more important than the actual win,"
Guelph looks to make it a three-win weekend when they play in Sarnia Sunday afternoon. Wednesday morning they play a school-day game in Mississauga.
Next home game is Friday against Windsor.
