By Tony Saxon, Guelph Mercury

Carter Sandlak admits he was pumped up heading into the Guelph Storm’s playoff series against the London Knights. Maybe a little too pumped up.

The 16-year-old London native took three minor penalties in his first-ever playoff game in the Ontario Hockey League.

“That first game, I was nervous. Anxious to play. The rest of the guys knew I was a little over-pumped and told me to settle down and play my game,” the left-winger said Wednesday after a brief practice at the Sleeman Centre.

“That first penalty in that first game? That was dumb. There was no reason to do that.”

Game 4 of the series goes today in Guelph at 7 p.m. with the Storm trailing the Knights two games to one in the best-of-seven conference quarter-final.

Since that first game, Sandlak has been the steady, physical, reliable player he was the second half of the regular season with the Storm. He has managed to channel his emotions into something productive, not something that puts his team down a man.

That’s not easy to do when you have 30 or so family and friends in the London crowd, you’re playing against the team you grew up idolizing and where his dad, Jim, played for three years.

“Even the last few years I’d be watching these guys on television. Now I’m playing against them. It’s a little overwhelming,” Sandlak said.

But there’s no time to be overwhelmed. The Storm needs its rookies to contribute, and they have. Sandlak and fellow first-year forwards Zack Mitchell and Francis Menard are each playing on one of the team’s top three lines.

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