Curtis Skip is probably going to blame himself.
The winning goal was a long wrist shot that hit him and crawled into the net, but if anything his Storm teammates should be thanking him for getting the game to overtime and earning a point.
It was a wrist shot from just inside the blueline off the stick of Saints Carson Soucy that filtered its way through five bodies in front of the net, hit the Storm goaltender and rolled into the cage.
The goal gave the hometown Saints a 3-2 win over the Storm in Spruce Grove Tuesday night,
“It was an unfortunate bounce that led to the third goal,” said Storm coach/general manager Blaine Bablitz. “The point shot ricocheted off two guys.”
The second year Storm netminder faced 35 shots including 34 in regulation time and was outstanding throughout the entire game.
Gus Correale, with his fifth in five games, and sixth game in a row he has picked up at least one point, forced the overtime when he deflected a point shot by defenceman Tyler Haiste with just 1:23 to go in the third.
The Storm opened the scoring in the first when Devin Case scored just 1:17 in after taking a pass from defenceman Sash Larocque and moving from the left boards into the slot in the Spruce Grove end and firing a waist-high shot past Saints netminder Kenny Cameron.
Grande Prairie was a little fortunate to get out of the first without being scored on after struggling in their own end for a good portion of the period, but were saved by netminder Curtis Skip who made several big saves on labelled shots from close in.
It turned around in the second in favour of the Saints.
Spruce Grove tied it at 1-1 at 8:13 when Doug Morris re-directed a Dallas Smith pass from about 15 feet out and then took a 2-1 lead when Dylan Richard scored on a high shot from the slot.
Both goals came on the powerplay.
Bablitz was not happy with the second period penalties.
“We took some penalties and that killed our momentum,” he said. “If we can keep it five on five we can play with anyone. We gave them momentum in the second period.”
Once they smelled blood the Saints pounced and could have spread the lead to two or three goals in the middle frame if not for the heroics of Skip, who faced 14 shots in the period while the Storm managed just three at the other end.
The Storm return to Spruce Grove for games Friday and Saturday as part of the annual AJHL Showcase weekend.
Both games are against South Division foes – Friday at 5 p.m. against the Canmore Eagles and Saturday at 1:30 p.m. against the Calgary Canucks.
The Storm Booster Club has a bus booked for the Saturday game. Anyone interested in making the trip can call Booster Club president Chris Luthula at 780-897-6774,
Next home action is Oct. 5-6 when the team hosts the Camrose Kodiaks and Okotoks Oilers in games at 7:30 p.m. in the Canada Games Arena.