Attack defeat Storm 6-3 in Midwest Division battle

The Owen Sound Attack defeated the Guelph Storm 6-3 in the seventh meeting of the season between the Midwest Division rivals at the Sleeman Centre on Friday.

With the win, Owen Sound’s record moves to 24-15-4-1, Guelph’s falls to 19-20-4-1. The Attack remain in the third spot in the Western Conference, the Storm continue to occupy seventh.

Owen Sound captain Colby Barlow netted the game-winning goal when he had an opportunity in the low slot area, putting the puck past Guelph goaltender Patrick Leaver on a back-handed shot in the middle stages of the second period. Barlow has scored 34 goals in 2022-23, with four in his last three games.

Kaleb Lawrence got the Attack on the board first when he cashed in on a rebound opportunity 7:32 into the opening period. He’s up to 12 goals on the year, riding a three-game goal-streak.

Michael Buchinger blasted home Guelph’s first goal of the game on a power play in the middle of the opening frame. The St. Louis Blues’ prospect has 9 goals and 38 points this season, the most in both categories among Storm defencemen.

Later in the first, Deni Goure ripped a wrist shot from the blue line that found it’s way into the back of the net to put the Attack back on top. Goure has scored 21 goals this year with seven against Guelph.

Early in the second period Jackson Stewart fired a wrist shot from an odd angle into the Guelph net to push the Owen Sound lead up to two goals. He’s scored five goals throughout the 2022-23 campaign, passing his previous OHL career best of four in 2021-22.

The teams exchanged blows in the middle stages of the second period, with four goals being scored in 2:33. Unfortunately for the Storm, three of the goals were scored by the opponents.

Colby Barlow started the rapid goal exchange when he netted the game-winner in the middle of period two. It was his ninth game-winning goal of the season and the 16th of his OHL career.

Just 20 seconds after Barlow’s game-winner, Sam Sedley fired a wrist shot from the top of the face off circle to the left of the Storm net past the shoulder of Patrick Leaver for an insurance marker. Sedley has scored 10 OHL goals with five coming this year.

Ryan McGuire quickly got one back for Guelph just 1:11 later when he fired a wrist shot past Attack goalie Owen Votary. This was his fourth goal of the campaign and his 20th point in the OHL.

Cedric Guindon scored another goal for Owen Sound when he redirected a Madden Steen shot past Brayden Gillespie for a deflating goal late in the second. It was Guindon’s 17th goal of the year, he’s up to 53 points in 2022-23.

Matthew Poitras scored a power play goal with a wicked top-shelf wrist shot 7:37 into the third period, however, it would be Guelph’s final goal in their loss to Owen Sound. It was Poitrais’s 11th goal of the season and his 100th career point in the O, he leads the Storm in points with 50 on the year.

Guelph will meet their rivals from Owen Sound one more time this season, on March 20th at the Sleeman Centre. The Storm have won four of seven meetings between the teams this season.

Game Notes:

Owen Sound Attack 6 at Guelph Storm 3 – Status: Final
Friday, January 27, 2023 – Sleeman Centre

Owen Sound 2 4 0 – 6
Guelph 1 1 1 – 3

1st Period-1, Owen Sound, Lawrence 12 (Jordan, Papais), 7:32. 2, Guelph, Buchinger 9 (Bowman, Poitras), 11:02 (PP). 3, Owen Sound, Goure 21 (Sawyer, Bryant), 15:10. Penalties-Sedley Os (delay of game), 10:31; McGuire Gue (hooking), 17:17.

2nd Period-4, Owen Sound, Stewart 5 (Sedley, Seed), 2:50. 5, Owen Sound, Barlow 34 (Bryant, Steen), 11:48. 6, Owen Sound, Sedley 5 (Lawrence, Seed), 12:08. 7, Guelph, McGuire 4 (Allen), 13:19. 8, Owen Sound, Guindon 17 (Steen), 14:21. Penalties-Leaver Gue (high sticking), 5:38; Chafe Os (roughing), 8:31; Enright Gue (roughing), 8:31; Sedley Os (holding), 16:32; Papais Os (instigator, fighting, misc-instigating), 20:00; Sedley Os (misc-usc), 20:00; Seed Os (fighting, game misc-phys. abuse of off (cat iii, game misc-second fight), game misc-second fight), 20:00; McFarlane Gue (misc-usc), 20:00; Namestnikov Gue (fighting, game misc-second fight), 20:00; Walker Gue (fight-inst. upon), 20:00.

3rd Period-9, Guelph, Poitras 11 (Buchinger, McKenzie), 7:37 (PP). Penalties-Petrovski Os (cross checking), 7:17; Sawyer Os (cross checking), 8:42; Sedley Os (interference), 16:00.

Shots on Goal-Owen Sound 9-16-7-32. Guelph 7-8-4-19.
Power Play Opportunities-Owen Sound 0 / 2; Guelph 2 / 6.
Goalies-Owen Sound, Votary 9-6-3-0 (19 shots-16 saves). Guelph, Leaver 15-14-1-2 (21 shots-16 saves); Gillespie 6-2-2-1 (11 shots-10 saves).
Timeouts — Timeout 00:30 Owen Sound@16:00, Timeout 00:30 Guelph@16:48
A-4,684
Referees-Chris Ferreira (14), Jesse Wilmot (17).
Linesmen-Adam Harris (49), Dave Pfohl (96).

Next Up:

The Storm are back in action with hockey downtown Guelph at the Sleeman Centre on Sunday for a matinee meeting against the Sudbury Wolves at 2pm. After that, they’ll head to Erie for a rare 11:00am puck drop on Thursday and then to Kitchener to take on their Highway 7 rivals on Friday. Tickets to Sunday’s Storm game can be found here.