By Paul Osborne - 'From the Stands', Guelph Tribune - In a week that saw the Guelph Storm trade captain Matt Kennedy to Barrie, there appears to be more moves afoot. As the Storm put in one of their best efforts in weeks, a 4-3 win over the Plymouth Whalers on Saturday, young goaltender Joel Vienneau of the Kingston Voyageurs sat with Guelph goaltending coach Mike Parson.

Vienneau, a seventh- round draft pick by the Storm in 2008, has been the best goaltender in Ontario Junior A (Tier 2) Hockey League. Earlier this month he recorded a 2- 0 shutout in the Canadian Junior Hockey Prospects game held in Manitoba.

When Storm general manager and coach Jason Brooks was asked if Vienneau could land in Guelph sometime after Christmas, his answer was noncommittal.

“Possibly,” he said. “I’m not saying yes or no. We brought him in to talk to him and we wanted him to be in the building to see a game and feel the atmosphere. We wanted to talk to him and see what he was thinking. He is playing for a very good team in Kingston (and may want to stay there).”

So all of a sudden the numbers don’t add up. The fact they are even considering this move now tells you something else is up. Cody St. Jacques (pictured) has been the team’s best goaltender and Brooks says he’s not going anywhere. Injured Brandon Foote is skating now but is still six weeks away so that leaves Matt Hoyle. The buzz around the Storm Christmas party was that Hoyle was going to leave the team at the break and go to school full time. If that’s the case, the Vienneau talks make sense.

No one around the team was willing to confirm the Hoyle theory. Brooks would only say things would become clearer this week.

In regards to Vienneau, Brooks said talks are preliminary. The team is obviously very interested in the young man who has posted a league best 1.90 goals against average and a whopping .936 save percentage. He is also garnering some interest from NHL teams for the upcoming draft.

I’m sure NHL scouts would like to see Vienneau play in the OHL to better assess his talent. Playing great in Tier 2 is one thing but playing consistently well against the best juniors in the province is quite another. The OHL is a big step up.

Vienneau, who was unavailable for comment, has a big decision to make. If Hoyle does leave, the 17- year-old Hearst, Ont. native could come in and get some valuable OHL experience. Or, he could stay with first place Kingston where his team is 33-2-1 and go for a championship, then consider signing in Guelph for next season. Or, he could sign as an Associate Player, meaning he could fill the gap if Hoyle leaves and Foote completes his recovery time. The fourth option would be to go the NCAA route.

Whichever way, the Storm would love to have him a part of their future.

From the Land of Oz . . . Matt Sisca had all four goals in Guelph’s win over Plymouth on Sunday. Sisca has been on an incredible hot streak since being rumoured to be going to Kingston in a trade a few weeks back. Since, he has had 14 goals in his last 10 games. He now leads the Storm in goal scoring with 21, three ahead of Taylor Beck who set up all four of his goals against the Whalers. “When I heard I was going to be moved to Kingston I didn’t feel very well about the way I was playing. I knew I had to step it up,” said Sisca . . . Peter Holland was extremely dangerous in the Plymouth game but just couldn’t finish on several golden opportunities. It was by far his best game of the season although he was strong the night before as well in the team’s 4-3 overtime loss to Kitchener . . . Brooks, who has been suffering from a debilitating disc problem in his back will have surgery Jan. 22 to try and fix the problem. He isn’t sure at this point how long he will be out of action . . . Guelph’s next game is on Tuesday Dec. 29, when they host the London Knights at the Sleeman Centre at 7 p. m.