Ottawa 67s Fan Report: Storm Score Five To Take Fifth Straight In Ottawa

For the fifth year in a row, the Guelph Storm left their one trip of the year to the Nation’s Capital with two points, taking a 5-1 decision on Friday night in Ottawa.

Guelph netminder Justin Nichols allowed a weak shot by Brendan Bell past him in the second period to cut a 2-0 lead in a half, but was solid the rest of the way, making 34 stops to preserve the win.

“We get 16 shots in the third period, it's 3-1, we get all sorts of chances to score, it's a little bit deflating,” said Chris Byrne. “I don’t think anybody here would say our guys didn’t work hard.”

“That's a top team. They're solid, they have a deep team. When we gave them opportunities, they buried the puck.”

Scott Kosmachuk was the game’s first star, registering his 12th and 13th points respectively in seven career games against the 67’s. He scored twice on the powerplay in the first 25 minutes of the game to give Guelph a 2-0 advantage.

Still early in the second frame, Bell blocked a shot and went in on a two-on-one, electing to shoot, a weak wrist shot along the ice that fooled Nichols.

Matt Finn gave the visitors their second two-goal cushion of the night, while Rob Fabbri and Pius Suter tallied in the third for the CHL’s eighth-ranked squad.

Ottawa was forced to play with five defencemen for the majority of the night as Adrian Sloboda went awkwardly into the boards. He’s expected to miss seven-to-10 days with a high ankle sprain.

Troy Henley played his fifth game of the year and will be looked upon to get more ice time in Sloboda’s absence.

“I thought Henley was excellent, he played about 15 minutes on the back end, not easy to do against such a good team,” added Byrne.

Injury problems continued to hit the Barberpols when John Urbanic was hit by a Guelph clearing attempt.

“He took a puck off the elbow,” said Byrne. “We’ll take him for x-rays tomorrow.”

Philippe Trudeau made 41 stops in the losing effort.

The 67’s try to get back to the .500 level on Sunday when they take on the Sudbury Wolves.

Game sheet can be found here.

Assorted Notes:

Byrne wouldn't tip his hat at a possible trade for a defender with Sloboda and Mike Vlajkov out, although it's likely he does test the market. "Good thing we have eight guys," was all he had to say on the banged-up defence.
It seems odd that Taylor Davis would be named hardest working 67's two games in a row before being a healthy scratch. That shouldn't be an issue on Sunday with Sloboda and Vlajkov out.
Since bringing in Trudeau, Jacob Blair has only played 26 minutes. One has to wonder if he's being shopped by the team.
He isn't related to former Storm and 67's forward Lou Dickinson, but current Guelph forward Jason Dickinson shared similar bad referee luck with his namesake by taking a pair of very chintzy penalties in the first 12 minutes of the game.

(Unofficial) shot tracking by Kathryn Jean. 'X' indicates Storm player.