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Sam Erkkila had the OT winner for the Storm Saturday night. Photo courtesy EverythingGP
By Jeff Henson
GP STORM

Late game heroics power Storm past Saints

Dec 1, 2019 | 9:55 AM

Many felt the Grande Prairie Storm and Spruce Grove Saints would have a tough act to follow after Friday’s exciting 3-2 overtime win for the Storm.

Challenge accepted!

In a game that saw considerable momentum swings, it would be the Storm that would enjoy the last one, erasing a 5-3 third period deficit en route to a 6-5 overtime win.

Spruce Grove opened the scoring on a power play goal by Jordan Biro, who extended his point scoring streak to nine games. Five minutes later, Jonathan Assayag would pot a short handed marker behind Lars Kaliel to make it 2-0.

Cue the first Storm comeback.

Nathan Morgan scored on the power play at 17:26 of the first to send the Storm to the dressing room only down by one.

The home side came out flying to begin the second, as Devin Sutton, and then Lukas Jirousek just 32 seconds later, would give the Storm their first lead of the night.

But then it was the Saints turn to get on a run, as they would score three times within a span of 1:47 to turn a 3-2 deficit into a 5-3 lead.

“We got a little bit complacent there,.” said coach Matt Keillor. “It was like ‘we are going to start rolling here” which did not happen.”

Seth Fyten on a PP, Adam Hall and Assayag got the Saints goals, with the last one resulting in the end of the night for Kaliel, who allowed 5 goals on 20 shots.

“We felt there were a couple that (Lars) was pretty deep in his net for. At the fifth goal, we had no more time outs left, so pulling him was the next step.” said Keillor. “We hoped it would light a fire under some guys, and it did.”

“As soon as Lars came on to the bench all of the guys rallied and it was kind of like let’s do it for this guy who has been winning games for us. He won us Friday’s game and the guys did their job for him (Saturday).”

Kaeden Lane came in at that point and went a perfect 14 for 14 in goal to keep the Storm in the game.

“Kudos to Kaeden for coming in. ” said Keillor. “That is hard to do, especially when he has not played in a little while.”

Cue Storm comeback #2, and in particular the Jackson Wozniak show.

The Storm captain scored a power play goal with 6:33 remaining to pull the club within one, then converted on a two on one with Sam Erkkila with exactly three minutes remaining to tie things up at 5.

“The captain stepped up in the third, and it was the right guy to step up.” added Keillor. “He has been great for us the last 5 or 6 games, starting to produce like we knew he could so it was really nice to see him get those goals.”

With the momentum clearly on their side, the Storm completed the comeback in the extra period, as Erkilla fired a shot from almost the exact same spot that Jarin Sutton scored from in overtime the night before.

The win stretched the Storm’s regulation time unbeaten streak to five gmes (3-0-2) and keeps them one point ahead of Drayton Valley for fifth in the AJHL North.

Outside of the exhibition game this Thursday night against the Czech Republic National Junior A Team, the Storm are now off from league action until December 13th, when the defending National champion Brooks Bandits will make their lone visit of the season to Revolution Place.

by Jeff Henson