Around the OHL
Wednesday October 1, 2014
By Aaron Bell
The Guelph Storm are hoping that they worked most of their kinks out on opening night.
The Storm opened the 2014-15 season as the OHL’s defending champions on Friday night against the visiting Belleville Bulls, but things didn’t go as planned – on the ice or off.
The Storm were raising three banners before their home opener to celebrate their OHL championship season last year but an equipment malfunction kept the banners from going up into the rafters. They made a quick change before the game and unveiled them on the back wall of the arena instead.
Once the pre-game festivities were done, the Storm ran into a motivated group in the Belleville Bulls and dropped a 6-0 decision in their season opener.
Fortunately, it didn’t take the Storm long to regroup and they rallied for a 201 road win over the Windsor Spitfires on Sunday.
They hope it’s the start of another successful season.
“I think that Guelph wants to build a tradition that we’re going to have a strong team every year,” said veteran defenceman Ben Harpur, one of 13 returning players from last year’s team that won the Robertson Cup and played in the championship game at the MasterCard Memorial Cup.
The Storm are still waiting to see if forwards Robby Fabbri, Jason Dickinson and Justin Auger and defencemen Zac Leslie will return from extended looks at pro camps.
“We lost a lot of our key guys from last year bit we’ve got some younger guys that need to step up and fill their shoes this year,” Harpur said.
Despite the loss of stars like Kerby Rychel, Brock McGinn, Scott Kosmachuk, Nick Ebert and Matt Finn, the Storm like their chances to have another winning season.
“I think it’s still the same (mindset),” Harpur said. “Last year we had a great skating, fast team and we have a lot of great skaters on this team too. We have Fabbri and Dickinson – that’s a lot of our goal scoring out of the lineup right now.”
Detroit Red Wings prospect Tyler Bertuzzi is also back after scoring 10 goals and 17 points in 18 playoff games. He emerged as a leader with the Storm during their championship run and plans to continue to be a leader with the team this season.
“We’re young just like when I came here in my first year,” Bertuzzi said. “We have to play with a lot of energy and play a simple game – chipping pucks in and working it down low.”
Finn, Leslie and Auger were on hand to unveil the championship banners on Friday night and said they got chills watching the highlight video from their championship run last year.
Finn is likely going to play for the Toronto Marlies this year while Leslie and Auger were on their way to Manchester in the AHL after enjoying their time in the Los Angeles Kings camp. Leslie and Auger could return to the Storm as overagers this season.
“A lot of the guys are still here and a lot of guys are moving on,” Leslie said. “It’s nice to get the chance to come back and see some of your teammates and the guys that you went to battle with for the OHL championship. It’s always a good feeling.”
Bulls Charge Out of the Gate
After missing the post-season last year, the Belleville Bulls were happy to get out to a quick start this season. They followed up their opening night win over the Storm with a 2-1 win over the Sudbury Wolves on Saturday in their home opener.
Veteran netminder Charlie Graham is going to be a key to the Bulls success this season and was named the CHL’s goaltender of the week after allowing just one goal in two starts.
“It’s always nice to get a shutout – that’s for sure – but I’m just happy that we got the two points,” Graham said after Friday’s win in Guelph. “It was a little difficult not having the regular time to warm up before the game but seeing the highlight reel was pretty special,” Graham said. “It was a great atmosphere.”
Graham said that he likes the look of his squad this year.
“Looking at our D corps, we have a good group back there with veterans and some young guys and with our forwards – you can’t say enough about Remi Elie and Brett Gustavsen who we got from Ottawa,” Graham said.
“I think our young guys like Brandon Saigeon had their first game and I think they did a really good job. From top to bottom, we have good depth with older guys and some younger guys too.”
Five teams still undefeated
The Bulls are one of five OHL teams to escape opening week with perfect records along with the Mississauga Steelheads who won their only game of the week – a 5-4 overtime victory at home over the Oshawa Generals thanks to Brandon Devlin’s three-point performance with a pair of goals including the game-winner.
The Kingston Frontenacs also won a pair of games and maintained their second overall ranking in the BMO CHL Top-10 released for the first time Wednesday following the initial preseason list. The Soo Greyhounds climbed to number five after picking up a pair of weekend wins then extending their perfect start to the season on Wednesday night at home with a 6-4 win over the visiting Saginaw Spirit.
The Erie Otters also made waves opening the season with a three-game weekend road sweep led by OHL Player of the Week Dylan Strome’s 10 points to take the early scoring lead and lifting the club back into the Top-10 at number seven after spending most of 2013-14 among the CHL’s best.
