A great Sunday afternoon at the Sleeman Centre for a terrific cause saw the Storm come out on the short end of a 5-3 decision versus the Kitchener Rangers.

It was RBC Play Hockey Day with the Storm wearing Guelph Giants replica jerseys in support of a great local hockey organization.  The Storm stumbled out of the gate and found themselves down 4-1 after 40 minutes.  A third period comeback cut the Rangers' lead to 4-3 before Andrew Crescenzi poked one under a sprawling Garret Sparks with 14 seconds remaining to ice the win.

Kitchener opened the scoring at the 2:37 mark of the first with Tobias Rieder finishing a nice two-on-one passing play by lifting his 28th of the season over Sparks.  The Storm had several great chances to tie including an extended powerplay with 3:15 left in the frame.  Instead, it was the Rangers that struck next as Ryan Murphy jumped on a turnover inside the defensive zone and went 120 feet before sliding between Sparks' legs for a shorthanded tally.  With under 30 seconds remaining it looked like that two goal advantage would carry into the intermission until Tanner Richard electrified the crowd with a powerplay strike at the 19:54 mark.

In the second period, the Rangers added another pair to extend their lead to 4-1.  Cody Sol's point shot through a maze of legs on the powerplay was the third of the game for the visitors, then Zach Lorentz beat Sparks with a long wrist shot just inside the post.  

Down three with 20 minutes in play, the Storm could have called it a day, but instead they mounted a comeback that energized the near sell-out crowd.  Jason Dickinson started charge with a powerplay marker only 70 seconds after the opening faceoff from Matt Finn and Andrey Pedan.  Then Zack Mitchell made it 4-3 with his team leading 26th from Tanner Richard at 14:32.  Guelph came close a few times, but the Rangers limited their chances late before Crescenzi scored in the dying seconds.

The Storm will be out of action until next Friday night when they host the Saginaw Spirit in a critical game for the Western Conference playoff picture.  Friday's game will begin a frantic February that will see Guelph play 13 times in 26 days including eight games away from the Sleeman Centre.

Kitchener Rangers 5 at Guelph Storm 3 - Status: Final
Sunday, January 29, 2012 - Sleeman Centre

Kitchener 2 2 1 - 5
Guelph 1 0 2 - 3

1st Period-1, Kitchener, Rieder 28 (Thomson, Catenacci), 2:37. 2, Kitchener, Murphy 6 (Catenacci), 17:56 (SH). 3, Guelph, Richard 11 (Menard, Finn), 19:54 (PP). Penalties-Genovese Kit (fighting), 6:56; Turcotte Gue (fighting), 6:56; McNaughton Gue (slashing), 10:47; Pedersen Kit (too many men), 12:23; Bertuzzi Gue (check from behind), 15:33; Thomson Kit (tripping), 15:50; Crescenzi Kit (check to the head), 16:45; Iafrate Kit (holding), 19:45.

2nd Period-4, Kitchener, Sol 11 (Rieder , Murphy ), 5:32 (PP). 5, Kitchener, Lorentz 18 (Sterk, Murphy ), 10:20. Penalties-Menard Gue (hooking), 3:59; McNaughton Gue (check to the head), 5:01; Catenacci Kit (tripping), 5:08; Pedan Gue (cross checking), 14:18; Watling Gue (hooking), 16:25; Sol Kit (unsportsmanlike cnd.), 20:00.

3rd Period-6, Guelph, Dickinson 5 (Finn, Pedan), 1:10 (PP). 7, Guelph, Mitchell 26 (Richard), 14:32. 8, Kitchener, Crescenzi 14 (Rieder ), 19:46. Penalties-Genovese Kit (holding), 2:41; Crescenzi Kit (elbowing), 6:04; Pereira Gue (hooking), 6:50; Iafrate Kit (hooking), 9:34.

Shots on Goal-Kitchener 11-10-5-26. Guelph 14-6-13-33.
Power Play Opportunities-Kitchener 1 / 7; Guelph 2 / 9.
Goalies-Kitchener, Palazzese 16-6-1-0 (33 shots-30 saves). Guelph, Sparks 18-14-1-2 (26 shots-21 saves).
A-4,557
Referees-Ryan Carroll (9), Kevin Blundell (6).
Linesmen-Ryan Park (67), Chris Thornton (89).