There's a lot to be thankful for this weekend.
Storm fans can be thankful their team continued its unbeaten home streak – now at four games
– by downing the top team in the North Division of the Alberta Junior Hockey League, the
Spruce Grove Saints, 4-2 in Revolution Place on Saturday night.
The Storm organization can be thankful the fans continue to show up. Saturday's attendance
was 1,121 keeping the season-long plus-1,000 streak going.
And, perhaps most importantly, Storm head coach/general manager Kevin Higo can be thankful
his squad is starting to understand what it takes to win consistently in the AJHL.
Saturday's win finished off a weekend home doubleheader that had started with a 2-1 win over
the Camrose Kodiaks on Saturday.
While an early 1-0 deficit, on a goal by Cody Young at 2:26, created a little stress for the Storm
mentor, how they reacted after falling behind to a team that is ranked among the best in
Canada, had him smiling.
“Our start was not good tonight” said Higo. “We were very lucky to be only down by one after
the first 10 minutes, but that is also a good sign we are progressing.
“We were able to tie the game and then played much better after that.”
The much better started with a powerplay goal off the stick of Zac McNeill at 13:40 of the first.
In the second Jake Elmer gave the Storm the lead at 4:49 keeping the potent Spruce Grove
offence silent in the middle 20 minutes.
“We challenged the team to clean up our game with the puck – which we did in the second
period,” said Higo.
Two third period goals by local product Logan Mozerolle – one at 18:42 and the other with just
three seconds remaining in the game – accounted for the rest of the GP scoring.
Sandwiched in between Mozerolle's pair in flurry that saw three goals scored in 1:15 was a goal
by Spruce Grove's Conner Luken that made it 3-2.
While Higo was happy with the overall effort and the win Saturday, he says there are some
things that need attention going into a three games in four nights south swing against the
Calgary Mustangs (Thursday), Brooks Bandits (Saturday) and Drumheller Dragons (Sunday).
“An area we need to improve is our play away from the puck,” said Higo. “The Saints were able
to generate chances in the third period with delays and players coming into the zone late.”
But when they did arrive, for the most part netminder Arik Weersink was able to turn them
away.
The Storm netminder faced 70 shots over the two games, 35 each night, and allowed just three
goals.
“This weekend was easily Arik Weersink's best as a member of the Storm” said Higo. “He made
the simple saves and was able to make some key saves throughout the 60 minutes on Saturday.”
“He looked confident and strong all weekend and the team built off that.”
The win improved the Storm record to 4-4- 1 and a four-point lead on the seventh place Drayton
Valley Thunder.
Next home action is the weekend of Oct. 21-22 when the Dragons and Calgary Canucks visit Revolution Place.