By Tony Saxon, Guelph Mercury

This past Guelph Storm season left many unanswered questions. It also answered one very important one: Brandon Foote is a No. 1 goaltender.

The 19 year old Whitby native finally got a chance to prove himself this season.

After hip surgery in the fall sidelined him for the first half of the campaign, he stood on his head and turned plenty of other heads with his play in the second half.

He played in 34 of the team's 35 games after his return, posting a 20-8-1-0 record with a 3.07 goals-against average and a sparkling .913 save percentage.

Coach Jason Brooks called Foote one of the bright spots in a season that didn't have too many.

"He gave us a chance every night to win when he played in the last 30 or so games," Storm coach Jason Brooks said. "Footer came in and ended up playing out of this world."

Brooks said Foote's play was even more surprising given the serious hip surgery he had.

"We didn't know after the surgery where he was going to be at. But he came back and played consistent and solid."

Brooks said it's nice to know he has a No.1 goaltender going into next season.

Foote, who has two years of eligibility left, said earlier this season that he is a different goaltender than the one who struggled during the previous season he split between Brampton and Guelph, who acquired him in the Thomas McCollum deal. "A year ago, I put too much pressure on myself, " Foote said.

"I wanted to come in and prove that I can be a No.1 goaltender, not only to my teammates and fans, but to myself."

"You always want to believe in yourself, and I believe in myself 100 per cent. But I think when I came in last year I put a little bit too much pressure on myself to try and fill Thomas McCollum's shoes. But no one can fill McCollum's shoes, he's that good of a goalie, so I just wanted to prove that I can be a No.1 goalie in the league, and I think I did that for the last half of the year."