Jan 13, 2013 | dturner | 766 views
OMHA Playdowns Begin vs St. Marys
The Storm hit the road to open up the OMHA playdowns against a formidable opponent in St. Marys. The team had to deal with a shortened bench, as captain Hunter Seguin recovers from injury and Colin Gladwish recovers from an illness (heres hoping for a healthy & speedy recovery). The Storm battled hard from start to finish, but ultimately fell by a final score of 6-1. Walker Holmes scored the lone goal for the team, and Ben Brant carried the load in net.
It was evident, early in the 1st period, that the Storm would have their hands full not only battling the opposing skaters of the Rock, but also the home town referees. With a couple phantom calls against the Storm, the PK unit did their job to keep the Rock PP off the board, and "Big Ben" did more than his share with some monster saves to keep the game scoreless going into the 2nd period.
The 2nd period started off with the Storm applying some pressure of their own, as Evan Turner threw the puck to the net where Nick Bogaert drove hard looking for a rebound, but the Rock netminder covered up just in time. After another bad penalty was called against the Storm, when the Rock player completely "sold" a hook, the St. Marys' PP would finally convert on a scramble play in front of the net, making the score 1-0. The Rock would get the next goal on a bad break, as Ryan Steeves was blatantly tripped in his own end, and the St. Marys' player found Brant (who was expecting a penalty call) out of position and put one in to up the score to 2-0. St. Marys would get one more late in the frame on a shot from the wing that found the top corner putting the home team up 3-0.
The first goal of the 3rd period would go to the Rock on another scrambled play at the side of the net, making the score 4-0. Shortly after the goal, the Rock were assessed a penalty, but of course, the Storm PP was short-lived as the refs called another phantom trip against the road team. The refs continued to be busy, as they perhaps were trying to make amends (too little, too late) and called the Rock for a trip, putting the Storm on a mini 4-on-3 PP. The PP unit did not convert, however Walker Holmes would put the Storm on the board, as he scored shortly after while skating 4-on-4. The Storm would receive a bit of a scare as one of the Rock forwards crashed hard into Brant, but fortunately Ben was able to shake it off and finish out the contest. After the Rock extended their lead to 5-1, the refs were back at it again, this time missing an offside call on a 3-on-2 rush that converted to make the score 6-1. With a shortened bench, the Storm did not give up and continued to battle, along with their netminder who made a huge save on a breakaway chance, late in the game.
The Storm don't have long to regroup, as they host St. Marys in game #2 on Sunday afternoon. Keep up the solid effort boys!