By Tony Saxon, Guelph Mercury
Guelph Storm coach Scott Walker sees a different Storm team so far this season, and that isn’t a compliment.
The Storm fell to 1-2 on the season Friday as the Owen Sound Attack scored two unanswered goals in the third period to down Guelph 3-2 at the Sleeman Centre.
Walker has noticed that the desperation and effort that was evident for 60 minutes most of last season has been coming and going in the first three games of this season.
“We’re going nowhere if we don’t get our guys playing the right way,” Walker said.
“They’re supposed to be better players than last year. The problem is, they don’t play like they played last year,” the coach said. “Last year we played like we were going to get beat by everybody, this year we’re playing like we’re going to beat everybody.”
Friday was a much better effort than the loss to London last Sunday.
Several players had good games, most notably Zac Leslie, Cody McNaughton (pictured) and Garret Sparks, but overall the execution was poor. And after a decent start, the team didn’t look hungry until they fell behind late in the game.
“I think some of the guys that are supposed to be the big players on this team better get going soon,” Walker said.
Even the Guelph power play looked disorganized, going 1-for-7 on the night.
“Soon we’re going to find a new power play. In practice it’s easy ... but we’re not even in the right position. They’re not even in the right spots,” Walker said.
Goals by Patrick Watling and Zack Leslie, the latter on the power play, sandwiched one by Owen Sound’s Zach Nastasiuk to make it 2-1 after one period.
After a scoreless second, the Attack tied the game when Keevin Cutting wristed home a rebound following a great Garret Sparks save at the 7:50 mark. Storm defenceman Daniel Poliziani was burned wide just prior to the goal.