Game 4 - Mooretown 4 Petrolia 2
The Storm again looked to close out the series, this time at home, and put in the effort needed to take the game 4-2 and eliminate the Oilers 3 games to 1.
This time it was the Storm who came charging out of the gates and took it to the Oilers in the early going. Mooretown knew this was a game they had to win as going back to Petrolia for a Game 5 was definitely not something that favoured them. For the first few shifts of the game the Storm did a great job of putting the Oilers on their heels and keeping the puck deep in their zone. Petrolia was doing a fair job of weathering the early attack but some great board work by Luke Nahmabin, Drew Pepper and Nic Ashley got the Storm the lead they wanted. Pepper, fighting hard for the puck behind the net, found Ashley out front to bang home a one-timer off a quick pass. The rest of the 1st saw both teams create a few more chances but Cody Hitchcock was solid in goal in ensuring the period would end with the Storm out front.
Petrolia fought back five minutes into the 2nd and after some missed clearing attempts by the Storm a shot from the point got through a screen to get in behind Hitchcock and tie the score. This gave the Oilers some life and the pace of the game picked up. The Storm ramped up their game as well and some great pressure in the Oilers' zone ended up with the Storm heading to the powerplay with two minutes to go. The Storm set up well with Nolan Farr finding Logan Gardner down low where he was able to slide a nice feed to Greg Hay in the slot to put the Storm back in front heading into the 3rd.
The 3rd Period was definitely a nailbiter as the Oilers tied the score just thirty seconds in on a mishap at the Storm blueline which caused the Storm to lose Tanner Adams to an injury on the play. The Storm then found themselves shorthanded but managed a great penalty kill to stop the momentum from swinging in Petrolia's favour. As the period wore on both teams were looking to get the winner rather than sit back and defend and both goalies came up big. After a stop and a scrum in the Storm's zone an Oiler took an ill advised slashing penalty with just over six minutes to go. Ashley again was in the right place at the right time and snapped home another from in tight with Farr and Hay picking up the assists. Off the ensuing faceoff the Storm got the puck right back into the Oilers' zone and pressed hard on the forecheck. Hayden MacDonald snagged a clearing attempt at the blueline and got the puck quickly on goal where there was a lot of traffic. Farr was able to find the rebound in a maze of skates and slide it past the keeper to put the Storm up by two just forty seconds later. For the last five minutes it was all the Storm could do to hold on as Gardner threw a big open ice hit but jammed his own shoulder on the play. On the next shift Ashley was thrown awkwardly into the boards and had to hobble off as well. With the Storm Trainer working on 3 patients the remaining 6 forwards, anchored by the solid play of the defence and Hitchcock, found a way to hold back the Oilers for the last few furious minutes until the final buzzer sounded.
It was a hard fought series from start to finish with even lopsided Game 1 not breaking open until the 3rd Period. The Oilers gave it their all and gave the Storm all they could handle.
In all it was a great win for the Storm and they will try to continue to play with the same intensity going into the Silver Stick Finals Tournament and their next OMHA Series vs Dorchester.
1st Period
04:02 - Ashley (Pepper)
2nd Period
10:20 - Petrolia
01:42 - Hay (Gardner, Farr) PP
3rd Period
14:32 - Petrolia
05:53 - Ashley (Hay, Farr) PP
05:15 - Farr (MacDonald)
Goaltender - Hitchcock