Friday night in front of a sold-out crowd at the Sleeman Centre, the Storm won their fifth straight to jump over the Erie Otters and Saginaw Spirit into sixth spot in the Western Conference.

It was a playoff atmosphere inside the rink with the Storm and Otters battling for playoff positioning.  While the first period was scoreless and penalty free, it was anything but boring.  The Otters had a 12-9 edge in shots on goal but the Storm outchanced the visitors. 

The second period was more of the same with the Otters owning a 16-9 advantage in shots, but the Storm scored two of the three goals.  Tyler Carroll opened the scoring on a pretty three way passing play started in the neutral zone by Taylor Beck to Conor O'Donnell.  The overage forward hit Carroll cutting through the Erie defence where he snapped a shot short side over Adam Courchaine's shoulder and in.  Four minutes later, the home side would have a chance to double their lead with the Otters picking up the first penalty of the night.  Instead the penalty kill gave the Otters life and 16 seconds after stepping back onto the ice from the box, Anthony Luciani set up the tying goal with a long shot through traffic that Brandon Foote couldn't handle.  Before the end of the stanza, Guelph would restore their lead and again it was the trio of Beck, Carroll and O'Donnell doing the damage.  After Matt Maione's point shot hit an Erie defender and went wide to Beck behind the goal line, Beck backhanded the centering feed through his legs to O'Donnell for a one-time to make it 2-1 after two.

With their second one goal cushion of the night, the Storm were anything but comfortable entering the third against a dangerous Erie squad.  Only 3:59 into the final frame, the Otters would knot the game at two capitalizing on a turnover inside the Storm blueline.  Zack Torquato picked the Guelph player's pocket and slid it to Greg McKegg.  All alone ten feet out from Foote, the Otters' leading goal scorer made no mistake wristing a quick shot high glove side.  No question that the turning point in this one was a five-on-three advantage for Guelph early in the third.  Playing the right point, Peter Holland took a pass from Sam Lofquist, cut across the slot and went back across his body to Matt Sisca standing by himself beside Courchaine for the winner.  The Otters would enjoy a late powerplay and pull the goalie in the final minute but couldn't manage the equalizer.  Erie fired 12 more shots on Foote in the third to finish a first-star performance for the Guelph goalie, while the Storm answerd with ten.

Guelph wraps up the 2009-10 regular season on the road on Saturday night in Owen Sound.  Next week. the Storm opens their Western Conference Quarterfinal series on their road versus any one of Windsor, London or Kitchener.  The series shifts back to the Royal City for Game #2 on Friday night (if Windsor is the opponent) or Sunday afternoon at 2 pm (London or Kitchener).  Round One Rush ticket promotion for the Storm's first round playoff series with all regular priced lower bowl tickets just $10.

Erie Otters 2 At Guelph Storm 3 - Status: In Progress (FINAL)
Mar 12, 2010 - Sleeman Centre

Erie 0 1 0 - 2
Guelph 0 2 1 - 3

1st Period- No Scoring.Penalties-No Penalties

2nd Period-1, Guelph, Carroll 15 (Beck, O'Donnell), 3:39. 2, Erie, Holden 11 (Cazzola, Luciani), 4:44. 3, Guelph, O'Donnell 8 (Beck, Maione), 14:33. Penalties-Luciani Er (slashing), 7:28; Torquato Er (roughing), 19:42; Comrie Gue (roughing), 19:42.

3rd Period- No Scoring.Penalties-No Penalties

Shots on Goal-Erie 12-16-12-40. Guelph 9-9-10-28.
Power Play Opportunities-Erie 0 of 1; Guelph 0 of 2.
Goalies-Erie, Courchaine 19-23-1-1 (11 shots-9 saves). Guelph, Foote 18-8-1-0 (13 shots-12 saves).
A-0
Referees-Brad Beer (21), Scott Hoberg (13).
Linesmen-Tim Steen (75), Chris Thornton (89).