A road game in Erie historically means trouble for Guelph, but the road warriors wearing the Storm jersey this season made it look easy with a convincing 5-0 win.  Garret Sparks collected his first OHL shutout in the contest stopping all 25 shots by the Otters.

For the second straight night, the Storm was buoyed by a dominant period.  Last night in their 4-2 home win over Oshawa it was the opening twenty, while Saturday in Erie a four-goal second period outburst broke open a 0-0 deadlock and carried the visitors to the win.

After a second star performance where he picked up three helpers, rookie defenceman Zack Leslie notched his first career OHL goal with 2:53 remaining in the middle stanza and added an assist.  

Powerplays in the first were 4-2 in favour of Erie, but despite an 11-7 edge in shots on goal the Otters were unable to capitalize thanks to some solid goaltending by Sparks in the Storm net. 

The visitors regrouped in the intermission and grabbed their first lead only 81 seconds into the second.  On a delayed penalty call, Brock McGinn scored his fourth of the season from Matt Finn and Cody McNaughton.  The Otters had a chance to tie minutes later with their fifth straight powerplay opportunity.  Instead it was the Storm that found the back of the net as McGinn took a feed from Leslie and notched his first shorthanded goal of the year.  Down 2-0, the Otters failed to connect on their sixth straight man advantage.  The penalty kill seemed to energize Guelph as Scott Kosmachuk picked up his 10th of the campaign from Daniel Poliziani and Frank Menard.  Seeing extra minutes with Andrey Pedan out of the lineup, Leslie made the most of his opportunity picking up his first goal, lifting the Storm to a 4-0 lead.  Moments later on the powerplay, Leslie appeared to tally his second with a point shot past Tyson Teichmann but the goal was waved off as time expired. 

Down four entering the third, the Otters' comeback hopes faded quickly when Menard scored his eighth on the powerplay and the game deteriorated quickly from there.  With little left to decide except Sparks' shutout bid, the Otters seemed content to scrap instead of score and the Storm improved their road record to an impressive 6-2-0-1.

Tuesday night, Guelph will look to extend their regulation unbeaten streak to four games in Kitchener.  On Friday, the Belleville Bulls will visit the Sleeman Centre and then one night later, the red-hot Plymouth Whalers, winners of eight in a row after dropping the Rangers tonight come to Guelph for a 7:30 start.

Guelph Storm 5 at Erie Otters 0 - Status: End of Game
Saturday, November 19, 2011 - Tullio Arena

Guelph 0 4 1 - 5
Erie 0 0 0 - 0

1st Period- No Scoring.Penalties-McKegg Er (boarding), 0:13; McGuire Er (high sticking), 6:45; Nichol Gue (hooking), 9:47; McNaughton Gue (slashing), 11:27; McNaughton Gue (holding), 14:35; McGinn Gue (charging), 18:19.

2nd Period-1, Guelph, McGinn 4 (McNaughton, Finn), 1:21. 2, Guelph, McGinn 5 (Leslie), 3:59 (SH). 3, Guelph, Kosmachuk 10 (Poliziani, Menard), 14:49. 4, Guelph, Leslie 1 (Richard, Mitchell), 17:07. Penalties-Kosmachuk Gue (holding), 2:37; McNaughton Gue (holding opp. stick), 11:19; Harpur Gue (roughing), 15:28; Betz Er (slashing), 15:28; Maaskant Er (slashing), 19:11.

3rd Period-5, Guelph, Menard 8 (Kosmachuk, Finn), 3:00 (PP). Penalties-Cook Er (boarding), 1:11; served by Marchese Er (too many men), 1:19; Harpur Gue (fighting), 6:03; Betz Er (fighting, game misc-helmet), 6:03; Gaskin Gue (roughing), 7:05; McCarthy Er (10-min. misc.), 7:05; McGuire Er (roughing, fighting, game misconduct), 7:05; Cook Er (roughing), 7:42; Finn Gue (holding), 9:13; Gaskin Gue (10-min. misc.), 13:18; Marchese Er (10-min. misc.), 13:18; Kosmachuk Gue (slashing), 14:22.

Shots on Goal-Guelph 7-15-9-31. Erie 11-4-10-25.
Power Play Opportunities-Guelph 1 / 7; Erie 0 / 7.
Goalies-Guelph, Sparks 6-5-0-2 (25 shots-25 saves). Erie, Teichmann 0-9-0-0 (31 shots-26 saves).
A-3,054
Referees-Garrett Rank (17), Jason Goldenberg (19).
Linesmen-Darryl Wolfe (53), Adam Harris (49).