KITCHENER - A big win in a tough barn was just what the doctor ordered for the Guelph Storm Friday night.
Cedric Ralph scored a pair of goals and Isaac Ratcliffe scored his 40th of the season as the Storm downed the Kitchener Rangers 6-3 at The Aud.
A win in their regular season finale Saturday night in Erie means Guelph finishes sixth in the Western Conference and will meet the Sarnia Sting in the opening round of the playoffs next week.
A loss or a one-point game in Erie means Guelph has to wait and see what happens Sunday when Windsor and Saginaw wrap up the regular season against each other.
Either way, the playoffs start next weekend and Guelph's guaranteed two home games will happen March 27 and March 28.
"Games like this are a huge confidence builder," said Ratcliffe. "No matter who we're going up against in the playoffs, it's going to be exciting and we're ready to go."
The Storm has now won back-to-back games against Kitchener and outplayed Sarnia in a loss the game prior to that.
"We've faced a lot of good teams, teams we could come up against," Ratcliffe said. "We've shown we can take them all on. No matter who we play against I think we're ready to go and we're going to surprise a lot of people."
As for hitting the 40-goal mark, the Philadelphia Flyers draft pick gave plenty of credit to his teammates.
"I don't think I've had one goal that didn't go unassisted. It's a credit to the guys I've been playing with all year," said Ratcliffe.
He didn't have any targets in mind coming into the season.
"I didn't set too many long-term goals. I came off a pretty big jump last season and I wasn't really sure how this year was going to go."
For the second time in four days the Storm clawed back against Kitchener, who remain a potential first round opponent.
They trailed 3-2 early in the second period, but had jumped out to a 4-3 lead by the time the period ended.
A power play goal by Cam Hillis, his 20th of the season, and an empty netter by Alexey Toropchenko iced the game.
Mark Woolley had two assists for Guelph, his first multi-point game in the OHL, and Anthony Popovich made 23 saves in the Guelph net.
Kitchener played the game without Connor Hall, Adam Mascherin and Logan Stanley.
One down note to the night for Guelph, Owen Lalonde left the game with an upper body injury and didn't return.
