HAMILTON — It was a lousy way to see a win streak snapped.
Former Guelph Storm forward Tag Bertuzzi scored the lone goal of the shootout as the Hamilton Bulldogs downed the Guelph Storm 4-3 Saturday afternoon, ending Guelph's 10-game winning streak.
Guelph had tied the game with a shorthanded goal with just under five minutes left in regulation. They then killed off a penalty to Pavel Gogolev, most of it during the overtime.
But Bertuzzi's quick wrister to the blocker side of Nico Daws was the only one of six successful attempts by either side in the shootout.
Cam Hillis, Gogolev and Keegan Stevenson were all stopped by Hamilton netminder Marco Costantini.
"Time to start another streak," said Storm captain Hillis.
"It was one of those games. Sometimes everything goes right for 10 games, then things start to go the other way. We were on the other end of things tonight," Hillis said.
It was a back and forth game with the Storm never leading, but never trailing by more than one.
Eric Uba, Fedor Gordeev (with his first of the year) and Stevenson had the Guelph goals.
Gordeev would leave the game in the third period with a lower body injury and not return. He will be reevaluated on Monday.
"We weren't as strong as we needed to be today. We were probably fortunate to be in a situation in overtime," Burnett said.
"A lot of sloppiness. A lot of tired mistakes and they were better than we were," the coach said. "A lot of players weren't working as hard as they need to."
With little sustained pressure, the Storm looked a little tired.
Burnett even tried some line juggling, putting Jacob Roach on the top line and dropping Uba to the second line.
The Storm coach said his team shouldn't have been tired.
"That would only be an excuse," Burnett said. "(Hamilton) played yesterday as well. But I think we realize how much we miss Ralphie (Cedric Ralph, inured Friday night).
Guelph plays a school day game in Mississauga on Wednesday at 11 a.m. Friday they host Saginaw.
