Turnabout is fair play.
After getting shut out twice during their four game road trip, the Grande Prairie Storm returned home to turn that trick themselves, as they blanked the Camrose Kodiaks 3-0 on Friday night. Storm were full credit for the win, as they both out-skated and out-hit the Kodiaks and ended up outshooting their visitors 31-21.
Coach Matt Hughes was in a good mood afterwards. Hughes says this is as close to a 60-minute effort as he's seen all season from the team.
“The boys brought their work boots with them tonight. We were grinding well along the walls all night long and I thought the first forty minutes, especially, we didn't give them anything.”
After a scoreless first period, the Storm broke through with a pair of markers in the second. Blake Bosch had the opener on a two-on-one tap-in pass from Sam Lawson, while Lawson also assisted on Ryan Baskerville's blast to the bottom corner of the net.
Although the Kodiaks tried to fight back somewhat in the third, the Storm were able to put them away when Stephen Doane batted in a rebound midway through the final twenty minutes, while the home side was enjoying a two man advantage.
Inevitably, the Kodiaks were awarded their own two man powerplay in the game's final few minutes, but Nick Kulmanovsky stood tall between the pipes to earn his first shutout of the year. Coach Hughes says the whole team was happy for their goalie.
“You could tell Nicky really wanted this one. He's kept us in so many games already this season that it's great to see him get rewarded for his play.”
Storm ended up 1-for-5 on the powerplay, while the Kodiaks failed to scored on their three opportunities.
The win snapped a four game losing skid for Grande Prairie and moved the team to within two games of the 500 mark. They'll try to get one step closer to the break even point on Saturday night, when they host the Drumheller Dragons. Game time is 7:30 pm.
– Story by Don Whiteford of www.PeaceCountrySports.com.