Tied at three late in the third versus the visiting Kitchener Rangers, the Storm surrendered the winning goal with 57 seconds remaining to fall 4-3 in front of a New Year's Day crowd of 4,106 at the Sleeman Centre.

Scott Kosmachuk grabbed a Ryan Murphy turnover deep in the Rangers' zone midway through the opening period to give Guelph a 1-0 lead.  It turned out to be the last advantage of the afternoon for the home side with Kitchener tying the score at one at 18:39 of the first.

After the Rangers jumped in front 2-1 on Michael Catenacci's first of two, the Storm's Justin Auger battled through traffic down low for his second in as many days.  Catenacci restored the one goal bulge with a powerplay marker at 13:14 to send Guelph to the intermission down by one.

Kitchener penalty trouble in third gave the Storm a chance to even the score and they did just that.  With Ryan Murphy in the box for checking from behind and Andrew Crescenzi serving a tripping minor, Zack Mitchell notched his 18th of the season after Franky Palazzese couldn't handle an Andrey Pedan blast from the blueline.  An evenly played contest looked like it was headed for overtime before Catenacci found Tobias Reider all alone in the slot in transition for a one-timer past  Garret Sparks.

The Storm will spend a weekend away from home starting next Friday in Saginaw before travelling to Sault Ste. Marie to take on the Greyhounds on Saturday.  The next home action for the Storm will be Friday, January 13th when the Windsor Spitfires visit the Sleeman Centre.

Kitchener Rangers 4 at Guelph Storm 3 - Status: Final
Sunday, January 1, 2012 - Sleeman Centre

Kitchener 1 2 1 - 4
Guelph 1 1 1 - 3

1st Period-1, Guelph, Kosmachuk 17   10:15. 2, Kitchener, Sol 7 (Lorentz, Sterk), 18:39 (PP). Penalties-Marcantuoni Kit (holding), 1:50; Crescenzi Kit (check from behind, roughing), 10:40; Gaskin Gue (roughing), 10:40; Kosmachuk Gue (slashing), 12:25; Pedan Gue (high sticking), 16:54; Crescenzi Kit (cross checking), 19:47.

2nd Period-3, Kitchener, Catenacci 11 (Murphy , Lorentz), 3:36. 4, Guelph, Auger 2 (Kosmachuk, Finn), 6:09 (PP). 5, Kitchener, Catenacci 12 (Crescenzi, Rieder ), 13:14 (PP). Penalties-Lorentz Kit (high sticking), 5:04; Gaskin Gue (interference), 12:58; McNaughton Gue (slashing), 17:57.

3rd Period-6, Guelph, Mitchell 18 (Pedan, Dickinson), 9:34 (PP). 7, Kitchener, Rieder 22 (Catenacci, Thomson), 19:03. Penalties-Murphy Kit (check from behind, check from behind), 7:39; Crescenzi Kit (tripping), 7:54; Kosmachuk Gue (check from behind), 10:47.

Shots on Goal-Kitchener 11-14-14-39. Guelph 14-10-13-37.
Power Play Opportunities-Kitchener 2 / 5; Guelph 2 / 7.
Goalies-Kitchener, Palazzese 11-4-1-0 (37 shots-34 saves). Guelph, Sparks 12-10-1-2 (39 shots-35 saves).
A-4,106
Referees-Jason Faist (5), David Gauthier (28).
Linesmen-Ryan Wilson (54), Chad Drown (41).