All losses hurt, but some sting a little bit more.
Friday night's 5-4 defeat at the hands of the Camrose Kodiaks is going to leave a bit of a mark on the Grande Prairie Storm for a few days.
Gifted a four-minute powerplay with the score tied at 4-4 with 5:46 remaining in the third period the Storm couldn't take advantage of their good fortune on the long man-advantage and allowed the winning goal 1:12 after Kyler Kupka had stepped out of the penalty box following his slashing/unsportsmanlike double-minor.
Kupka ended up assisting on the winning goal – a 45-foot slap shot off the stick of Peter Kope that found its way through a maze in front of goaltender Charles-Olivier Levesque.
There was just 1:21 remaining in the third when Kope scored. The Storm pulled Levesque with 45 seconds to go, but couldn't muster any offensive pressure and the Kodiaks, alone in seventh place in the South Division of the Alberta Junior Hockey League when they got off the bus, boarded the bus with their seventh win of the season and a tie for sixth in the South.
It was a bit of a see-saw affair.
The Storm led 1-0 on Parker Smyth's powerplay tally 12:46 into the first, but the Kodiaks tied it at 1-1 when Kupka scored at 15:15.
There were five goals in the second – three from the Kodiaks (Nic Correale and then Kope and Matt Dykstra on the powerplay). Eric Sorensen had scored at 7:12, his first of the season, to make it 2-1 GP and then Parker Huebner, also his first, made it 3-3 at 17:11.
Dykstra's goal ended the middle period scoring giving the visitors a 4-3 lead heading into the third.
At 3:49 of the third Edouard Michaud tied the game at 4-4 with his first tally since returning from a mid-October injury.
Levesque ened up facing 25 shots while the Storm fired 36 at Griffen Bowerman at the other end.
Grande Prairie remains a solid fourth in the North Division with 29 points, five up on the fifth place Bonnyville Pontiacs and eight back of the third place Whitecourt Wolverines.
The Storm get a chance to get rid of the sting on Sunday when they visit the Crusaders in Sherwood Park. They stop in Drayton Valley to take on the Thunder on Monday; visit Sherwood Park on the 24th and the Saints in Spruce Grove on the 25th; and then return to Revolution for a home game Thursday, Nov. 30 against the Crusaders.
