Eight point weekend awaits the Storm

 Back to business for the Storm with a pair of important games early in the season. The Storm hope to prove something different to both teams. Against Kerry Park saturday, they'll try and show that they can skate with the Islanders in the third period, after last week's meltdown where they allowed 4 goals in the final frame.

Against the Oceanside Generals tomorrow, they'll just try to show they can skate with them at all. Last saturday the Generals came into the game with a purpose, and they never allowed the Storm to get into a rhythm.
Two Gens in particular impressed me. Big Josef Chase on the blue-line does a lot of stuff behind the play that seems to rattle the opposition. One sequence in particular stands out. Away from the play, he cross-checked Corey MacLachlan from behind, then as Corey got up, he punched him in the back of the helmet. That led to Corey skating into the Gens' goalie without the puck and a game ejection.

The other Gen that stood out was #23 Brent Baltus. He seemed to always be around the puck and has a terrific shot. That might explain why the Moose Jaw Warriors of the WHL have listed him.

The Storm will have to do more of what worked monday against Westshore. Getting pucks in deep and grinding down the defense.When rolling the Storm have 3 very capable lines in the Bartlett, Hall and Spooner units.
The defense needs to do 2 things to be successful in my opinion. They've been exposed when they've backed off of opposing forwards and allowed them to gain the blue-line the way France allowed Germany in during WWII.
They also need to find the timing to jump into the rush. One play that re-enforces this is during the Westshore game, when the Storm had the power-play. One d-man had jumped way up deep on the near boards, the other d-man was playing point on the same side, and no-one had the other point covered. A good team can make that mistake a costly one.

The Storm have played pretty well at home, with a 2-2 record. They're tied with Kerry Park in points with 6, however the Isles have 3 games in hand. The Generals are just 3 points up with 2 games in hand. It's a great chance for the Storm to gain some ground in the standings, while growing as a team. We've got the pregame starting at 7:15, sponsored by Work World in the Tyee Plaza and Home Depot.

Derek Hills

Nice to see some former Tyees doing well in Junior A.
Derek Hills, who also played defense for the Storm in '07, now the Captain of the Amarillo Bulls of the NAHL. They lead their division with a 7-1-1 record in just their first year of operations, thanks in part to Hills 8 pts on the blueline.
We'll speak with Hills next week and have that for you during one of the games.

Another Campbell Riverite with a good start is Zac Ashdown of the Coquitlam Express. He's got 3 goals and 5 assists in 8 games, as the Express are 5-3-1. I caught up with Ashdown and you can hear that interview during the first period intermission of tomorrow's Storm-Oceanside game (Oct 8).