Game Preview: Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds at Guelph Storm
October 10, 2019 - Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
Guelph Storm News Release
The Soo Greyhounds visit the Sleeman Centre on Friday October 11th as they take on the Guelph Storm for their first meeting of the season.
The Guelph Storm enter Friday's game with 2 wins and 6 points in their first 5 games of the season. Guelph is being led by sophomore D Daniil Chayka (3 goals, 4 assists) and Pavel Gogolev (2 goals, 4 assists) while goaltenders Owen Bennett and Nico Daws have split time in net both acquiring a win in the process.
The Greyhounds have had a strong start to their season winning 4 of their opening 6 games thus far and have outscored opponents 29-21 in that span. The Greyhounds are being led upfront by RW Jaden Peca (3 goals, 5 assists) and C Jaromir Pytlik (2 goals, 6 assists) while goaltenders Ethan Taylor and Christian Propp have also split game time.
Guelph Storm
The Guelph Storm finished in 4th place in the Western Conference with 90 points last season heading into the post-season. The Storm finished off the Kitchener Rangers in 4 games in the opening round of the playoffs by outscoring the Rangers 22-6. In the 2nd round, Guelph fell behind 3-0 to the London Knights before the Storm were able to win 4 straight games and win the series in game 7 in London. Guelph and Saginaw faced-off in the Western Conference Finals with Saginaw taking a 3-1 series lead before the Storm once again came back to win the series in 7 games. In the OHL Championship Series, the Ottawa 67's took a 2-0 series lead, but the Storm battled back and won four consecutive games to win their fourth championship in team history.
The Storm have a few returning players from last season's championship team including captain Cam Hillis, Keegan Stevenson, Cedric Ralph, Pavel Gogolev, Ty Collins, Owen Lalonde, Zack Terry, Daniil Chayka, Fedor Gordeev and goaltender Nico Daws.
This season, the Storm will begin their rebuild, as they have half of their former roster moving on from junior hockey, which will lead to an increase of rookies in the lineup.
Newly drafted players in the lineup include Danny Zhilkin (1st Round), Andrei Bakanov (1st Round - Import Draft), Jacob Maillet (2nd Round), Marko Sikic (3rd Round), Cooper Walker (5th Round), Clark Hiebert (9thRound - 2017) and Owen Bennett (4th Round - 2018)
Also, forwards Ben McFarlane and Matthew Papais and defencemen Luka Profaca return to the Storm lineup after playing some games last season with the Storm. Defencemen Colin Campbell made the roster as a free agent, Eric Uba joins the Storm via trade with Flint and Josh Wainman was acquired from Hamilton via trade in September.
Guelph has two players that have been drafted to NHL clubs including Cam Hillis (MTL - 3rd Round) and Fedor Gordeev (TOR - 5th Round, Traded to MIN)
Soo Greyhounds
The Greyhounds finished last season in 3rd place in the Western Conference with 96 points heading into the post-season. In the opening round of the 2019 playoffs, Sault Ste. Marie beat the Owen Sound Attack in 5 games outscoring them 26-15 to move on to the second round. The Greyhounds faced the Saginaw Spirit in the second round of the playoffs but quickly fell behind 3-0 in the series before eventually losing in 6 games.
The Greyhounds have a few new names in their lineup this season that include RD Jacob Holmes (1st Round, 2019), LW Marc Boudreau (3rd Round, 2019), D Matthew Halushak (9th Round, 2019), RW Dominic Mufarreh (7th Round, 2018), RW Kalvyn Watson (5th Round, 2018), C Tanner Dickinson (via. FA) and G Christian Propp (via. Trade from North Bay).
Sault Ste. Marie also has some returning players on their roster from last season team including RW Jaden Peca, C Jaromir Pytlik, RW Cole MacKay, LW Zack Trott, RW Ryan Roth, D Ryan O'Rourke and D Jacob LeGuerrier amongst others.
HEAD TO HEAD
2019-20 Regular Season
SOO 0-0-0-0 GUE 0-0-0-0
2018-19 Regular Season
SOO 2-0-2-0 GUE 2-1-1-0
Last Five Years
SOO 14-0-2-0 GUE 2-11-1-2
Last Five Years At Soo Greyhounds
SOO 8-0-0-0 GUE 0-5-1-2
Last Five Years At Guelph Storm
SOO 6-0-2-0 GUE 2-6-0-0
Previous Meetings This Season
TOP SCORERS
LAST 5 GAMES
MATCH UP
Soo Greyhounds Guelph Storm
Season Record 4-2-0-0 2-1-1-1
Last 10 Games 4-2-0-0 2-1-1-1
Streak 0-2-0-0 1-0-0-0
Last Game 4-3 L vs Peterborough (2019-10-06) Final 5-3 W @ Sarnia (2019-10-06) Final
Home Record 3-2-0-0 1-0-1-1
Away Record 1-0-0-0 1-1-0-0
Goals For 29 16
Goals Against 21 12
Power Plays 6/23 (26.09%) 3/18 (16.67%)
Power Plays - Home 5/21 (23.81%) 1/13 (7.69%)
Power Plays - Away 1/2 (50%) 2/5 (40%)
Penalty Killing 5/21 (23.81%) 5/17 (29.41%)
Penalty Killing - Home 3/16 (81.25%) 2/12 (83.33%)
Penalty Killing - Away 2/5 (60%) 3/5 (40%)
Leading Rookie Dickinson (0-6-6) Bakanov (2-2-4)
Most Penalty Minutes Ryan O'Rourke Eric Uba
Team PIM/GM 9.3/6 6.8/5
Players to Watch
Guelph Storm
Keegan Stevenson is heading into his 3rd OHL season as a leader on the Guelph Storm after being a solid contributor to the last seasons OHL Championship team. Keegan has 3 goals and 2 assists for 5 points in the opening 5 games of the season and is looking to set new career highs in goals (19) and assists (15) this season.
Soo Greyhounds
Jaromir Pytlik is on a roll to start his second OHL season with the Greyhounds after finishing with 19 points in 26 games last season. Jaromir has contributed 2 goals and 6 assists thus far through 6 games this season and is heading into the 2020 NHL Draft as a B level prospect.
Upcoming Games
The Guelph Storm head to Erie to take on the Otters on Saturday October 12th before they return home against the Otters on Friday October 18th at the Sleeman Centre.
Ontario Hockey League Stories from October 10, 2019
- Game Preview: Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds at Guelph Storm - Guelph Storm
- Weekend Preview - Steelheads Look to Build on Last Weekend - Brampton Steelheads
- Sting Strike Deal with Greyhounds - Sarnia Sting
- Peterborough Petes Name Players of the Week for the Week Ending October 6 - Peterborough Petes
- Hounds, Sting Complete Deal - Soo Greyhounds
- Niagara IceDogs to Honour St. Catharines Blackhawks on October 12 - Niagara IceDogs
- Steelheads Sign GM and Head Coach James Richmond to Three-Year Contract Extension - Brampton Steelheads
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