By Jeromy Corrigan

Storm travel south for three games this weekend

Dec 15, 2017 | 4:30 AM

It’s a busy weekend for the Grande Prairie Storm as they head down south for three games in three nights.

It all begins this evening when the Storm meet the Canmore Eagles for the second and final time this season.

Grande Prairie claimed the first meeting of the year at Revolution Place 6-2 in early November.

“They are going through a transitional year. They lost a lot of their top players from last year. They are relatively young. They will make mistakes because of their youth, but they are fast and they are skilled, ” said Head Coach Matt Keillor.

Another factor which will come into play according to Keillor is the special teams.

“They rely on their powerplay heavily. Staying out of the box will be really important. Making sure we win that special team’s game. Make sure we keep the puck out of the net on the PK, and when we get our opportunities to score on the power play as well.”

Puck drop for tonight’s game is at 7:00 p.m.

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On Saturday, the Storm will head to Drumheller to battle the Dragons, a team which has a similar record to them.

The two clubs collided at Revolution Place back in October with the Storm claiming a 3-1 victory.

“We match up pretty well against them. We match up well with their forwards. It will be one of those games where you want to hold on to the puck when you enter the offensive zone and make them have to play defence,” explained Keillor.

Drumheller also boasts one of the top players in the league in Jordan Taupert who has compiled 14 goals and 25 assists on the season.

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The road trip will conclude Sunday afternoon in Camrose as the Storm meet the Kodiaks in an afternoon affair.

These two teams met a month ago at Revolution Place which saw the Kodiaks squeak out a 5-4 win late in the third period.

“They are a bigger team. They are very physical. They are more structured defensively. They rely heavily on keeping the puck out of their own net,” he said.

“They don’t seem to score as many goals as some of the teams which we play so we have to make sure we are hard on the forecheck, and opportunistic because we will not get many chances against them.”

The Storm head into this weekend’s action with a 16-12-3 record which is good for fourth in the AJHL’s north division.