You hear it said over and over again... the secret to a successful penalty kill is great goaltending.  Friday night at the Sleeman Centre, the Storm had that and then some as they shut down the East Division leading Niagara IceDogs in an exciting 3-0 win in front of 4,581 fans.

Much like Sunday's win over the Sarnia Sting, opportunistic scoring, strong penalty killing and stellar goaltending were the keys to victory for Guelph.  Jason Dickinson struck 92 seconds into the contest and it turned out to be all the offence the home side would need.  While the Storm held a 2-0 lead on Scott Kosmachuk's first period powerplay tally, there were plenty of nervous moments for fans over the next two frames. 

The second period was all IceDogs as they owned an 11-4 shot advantage but couldn't solve Sparks. Then late in the stanza, Andrey Pedan picked up a major penalty for checking from behind that gave the visitors a three minute powerplay early in the third. 

The successful penalty kill energized the fans and soon after Frank Menard picked off a Niagara clearing attempt and fed Zack Mitchell for his team leading 24th of the season.  With a three-goal lead in their pocket, the Storm was in the driver's seat until the IceDogs picked up another lenghty man advantage - this time it was 1:52 of five-on-three.  Once again Sparks was brilliant and the Guelph defenders did the rest as they battled for loose pucks and cleared the zone several times.  With only the shutout still in doubt, the Storm and Sparks continued to stymie the IceDogs and earned a hard fought two points.

Tomorrow night, Guelph travels to Owen Sound to face the Attack at 7:30 pm before returning to the Sleeman Centre on Sunday afternoon to host the Kitchener Rangers at 2 pm.  Sunday's game is RBC Play Hockey Day in support of Guelph Giants Hockey with the Storm wearing Giants replica jerseys that will be auctioned off on-line beginning next week.

Niagara IceDogs 0 at Guelph Storm 3 - Status: Final
Friday, January 27, 2012 - Sleeman Centre

Niagara 0 0 0 - 0
Guelph 2 0 1 - 3

1st Period-1, Guelph, Dickinson 4 (Garlent), 1:32. 2, Guelph, Kosmachuk 20 (Dickinson, Pereira), 13:03 (PP). Penalties-Finn Gue (high sticking), 2:24; Doudera Niag (check from behind), 12:11; Oleksiak Niag (tripping), 13:03; Menard Gue (interference), 17:21.

2nd Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Auger Gue (holding), 0:32; Kuhnhackl Niag (slashing), 4:43; Gaskin Gue (cross checking), 7:10; Friesen Niag (roughing), 15:55; Bertuzzi Gue (roughing), 15:55; Ritchie Niag (instigator, fighting, 10-min. misc.), 18:18; Pedan Gue (check from behind, fighting, game misc-cfb), 18:18.

3rd Period-3, Guelph, Mitchell 24 (Menard), 5:55. Penalties-Pacan Niag (unsportsmanlike cnd.), 2:32; Mitchell Gue (slashing), 2:40; Friesen Niag (roughing), 5:37; Gaskin Gue (roughing), 5:37; Nichol Gue (hooking), 8:15; Finn Gue (high sticking), 8:23; Theoret Niag (high sticking), 10:43.

Shots on Goal-Niagara 11-11-15-37. Guelph 11-4-8-23.
Power Play Opportunities-Niagara 0 / 7; Guelph 1 / 5.
Goalies-Niagara, Festarini 11-9-0-0 (23 shots-20 saves). Guelph, Sparks 17-13-1-2 (37 shots-37 saves).
A-4,581
Referees-Kendrick Nicholson (22), Joe Monette (25).
Linesmen-Kevin Hastings (61), Tim Steen (75).