Slap shot to the face? Not a problem

KITCHENER – The gritty Guelph kid did in the gritty Guelph Storm Tuesday night.

Kitchener Rangers forward and Guelph native Connor Bunnaman took a slap shot to the face in the first period then returned to score a key goal for the Rangers in a 4-3 win over the Storm at The Aud.

The slap shot by teammate Dylan DiPerna shattered Bunnaman’s face shield, broke his nose and banged up his cheek bone. He lay bleeding on the ice for a short time before being assisted to the dressing room.

He returned 20 minutes later wearing a full cage and finished the game.

“I saw it coming and then I kind of blacked out there for a second,” said the Guelph minor hockey product and fourth round draft pick of the Philadelphia Flyers.

“Then I was on the ground and there was a bunch of blood.”

Both team’s trainers were out there to help quickly, but he never seemed to lose consciousness and once he’d been assessed he was right back out there, scoring Kitchener’s second goal.

“I knew I could play. The worst thing would have been if I couldn’t have seen because of my cheek, but I could see so I was good to go.”

The goal, which made the game 2-1 at the time, was Bunnaman’s 30th of the season.

“I wanted to get 35 this season and I think I can get that. I wanted to get 50 points (he has 42) so maybe I can get the apples (assists) up too,” he said.

It was a tough loss for the Storm, who certainly battled and worked hard enough to come away with a point.

But an inability to create quality scoring chances and an old nemesis – penalties – did them in.

“Our start was good but then we started to get into some trouble with penalties and when you only have five defencemen it gets taxing on everybody,” Storm coach Jarrod Skalde said.

The Storm led 1-0 late in the first period on a Matt Hotchkiss goal, but Frank Hora’s point shot tied the game before the period ended.

Guelph  spent much of the second period killing off a bunch of penalties, with DiPerna scoring on the power play to compliment Bunnaman’s tip-in goal, giving Kitchener a 3-1 lead after two.

Giovanni Vallati scored what proved to be the winner at 4:36 of the third period.

Liam Stevens and Nate Schnarr, the latter at 16:37 of the third, made things interesting.

But a slashing penalty to Guelph’s Liam Hawel with 89 seconds left in the game snuffed out any comeback hopes.

Kitchener had eight power plays in the game, Guelph four.

“I thought the effort was there, but at the end of the day it’s still disappointing we didn’t get anything to show for it,” Skalde said.

“I did like the way we responded in the third period, but again, it wasn’t enough.”

Anthony Popovich made 31 saves in the Storm net. Luke Richardson made 36 for Kitchener.

Guelph will host the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds on Friday night at the Sleeman Centre. Saturday they play in Owen Sound.