The jerseys were pretty, but the hockey wasn't. Still, the Grande Prairie Storm aren't complaining after outlasting the Olds Grizzlys 3-2 in a shoot out Friday night, in what was a very scrambly contest.
After 60 minutes of regulation time and five minutes of overtime solved nothing, the 1459 fans at the Canada Games Arena were treated to an extra long shoot out round. Chase Thudium finally ended the drama by scoring on the sixth shot to give the Storm the win.
Coach Matt Hughes says the beautiful move Thudium used to score the shoot out winner may just be a sample of things to come.
“Chase is one of our young guys with some pretty nice abilities. He has a good chance to become a high-end player and post some big numbers in this league.”
Sam Lawson and Jade McMullen had the goals in regulation for the Storm, who weren't able to hold 1-0 and 2-1 leads. Nick Kulmanovsky was also very solid between the pipes, blocking 38 of 40 shots in regulation, while also holding the Grizzlys to just one successful try in six shoot out attempts.
Storm were playing in their once-a-year pink jerseys, in support of breast cancer awareness. Since beginning the tradition in 2007, Grande Prairie has won the vast percentage of games they've played in the pink.
The win evens the Storm's record at 7-7-1 on the season. They'll look to go over the 500 mark on Saturday night, as they play host to the Canmore Eagles. Game time is 7:30 pm.
– Story by Don Whiteford of www.PeaceCountrySports.com.
– Photo by Logan Clow of the Daily Herald Tribune.
