Photo by Rena Laverty - Guelph goaltender Justin Nicholds stops Plymouth’s Will Bitten
PLYMOUTH - When Guelph Storm head coach Bill Stewart strolled into the media/scouts room at Compuware Arena on Saturday night, he had one simple request:
“Be easy on us tonight,” Stewart said. “We’re really banged up.”
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Points are earned in the Ontario Hockey League, and the Storm – with six players out of the lineup and dressing nine forwards and seven defensemen – played an excellent road game in 3-0 victory over the Plymouth Whalers in an Ontario Hockey League game before 2,481 at Compuware Arena.
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Guelph improves to 26-17-2-1; Plymouth is 15-26-2-1.
The Storm got younger at the Final Ontario Hockey League Trade Deadline. Two young players Guelph received at the deadline scored goals in the game.
Givani Smith, who was taken in the first round of the 2014 OHL Priority Selection by Barrie and later traded to Guelph, scored his first OHL goal to give Guelph a 1-0 lead at 5:52 of the second period. Smith took a pass from Storm captain Jason Dickinson and scored in tight on a backhand past Plymouth goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic.
Tyler Hill - over from Ottawa at the deadline for Adam Craievich - scored at 11:47 of the third period to give Guelph a 2-0 lead. He took a rising shot from the high slot that appeared curve from Nedeljkovic’s left to right and went top-shelf.
The Whalers pressured the whole game, but the Storm – the current OHL champions – protected the area in front of goaltender Justin Nichols well and he stopped all 29 shots he faced for his second shutout of the season.
Trailing 2-0 with two minutes left in the third period, Plymouth head coach Don Elland pulled Nedeljkovic. But Tyler Bertuzzi stripped Sonny Milano of the puck in the Plymouth zone and scored on the empty net at 18:44 to ice the game.
Plymouth is back in action on Thursday in Saginaw (7 pm, 88.1FM WSDP) before returning home for two games next weekend, hosting Belleville on Friday and Windsor on Saturday. Both games start at 7:05 pm at Compuware Arena.
