All that was missing from this win was 2 pts

As a broadcaster, friday's game between the Storm and Peninsula Panthers was one of those games that was a ton of fun to call. With goaltender Tyler Bachmeier on the injured reserve with a broken finger, the Storm switched their goalies up in the first period more frequently than Van Halen changes it's lead singer.
We'll get to that in a moment. Let me set the stage first. With Tyler out,  the Storm signed a new goalie the night before the game in Dom Travaloina, and he would play a big role in this game in his brief appearance. There were more changes to the line-up at forward, too. The Storm finally secured the rights to forward Brandon Tidy from Alberta hockey, and he too would play a significant role in this game with 3 points, along with fellow newcomer Mat Tilton.

It was one of those games that started with a bang. The Storm got a power-play 17 seconds in, and Rob Iszak scored his first goal in green, gold and red for River City a minute 45 in.

Corey MacLauchlan

From there, the Panthers scored a pair on starter Ryan Fairgray, who got hooked a'la the Gong Show. That seemed to temporarily spark the team, as Tidy scored on the power-play just 2 minutes later and it was all tied at deuces a piece.
Two minutes after that, Travaloina would see his first shot on net. Or should I say not see. Panthers Ryan Bradley scored to give his team the lead. The next shot Travaloina faced, once again 2 minutes later, had the same result with Porteous giving the Panthers a 4-2 lead, and that also spelt the end of the night for Travaloina, who was playing his first game in a year, due to an injury last year.
So Fairgray got another chance, and he settled down after that and made some big saves, especially in the third. Corey MacLauchlan would score for the Storm 4-3 after 20 minutes.

The Storm played with purpose in the second. Starting with a Jesse Bachmeier goal, then one from Mat Tilton and suddenly the Storm had a lead, if only for just under 5 minutes. Cole Peterson tied the game at 5 after 40 minutes.

In the third, the Panthers woke up and pinned the Storm for long periods of time in their own end. Players like Evan Campbell, Joe Densmore and Michael Scarborough seemed to own the puck at times, and it resulted in the Panthers striking twice courtesy of Corey Allen  to open up a two goal lead. I have to admit, it did not look promising. That is, until the Captain pulled his team to with in one. Here's the call on the goal.




Late in the game, with the Storm net empty, and the boys up high on the forecheck, a careless penalty by Andrew Gaiga snuffed out any chance of a come back for CR and also resulted in Allen's 3rd of the third period, into an empty net. 8-6 Panthers, who move to 4 and 0.

After the game, coach Jim Revenberg said they may not have won, but a lot of good came out of this moral victory.




These two teams hook up 7:30 tomorrow (sunday) at the Brindy. Come out and support your team. You can also catch all the action on 99.7 the River, with the pregame show at 7:15. Brought to you by Work World in the Tyee Plaza.