The Buffalo Storm opened their 2008 Home Schedule in front of a great crowd as they hosted the Toronto Tigers and perennial leading scorers Dave Hammond and Mark Dowsett on Saturday night. The Storm didn’t disappoint their home crowd as came away with an 8-4 victory over the Tigers.
Before the start of Saturdays contest verses the Toronto Tigers, Jason Francabandiero was overheard saying that he was “so ready to play” that he wanted the game to start about 45 minutes before the scheduled puck drop; he brought his game to backup that statement. By scoring 5 goals, including 2 on the power play, “Franco” as he is commonly referred to by his teammates and coaches; single-handedly propelled the Buffalo Storm to their 3rd win of the ’08 season.
The game started out relatively slow, with the teams feeling each other out and playing strong defense for the games opening quarter. Franco opening the scoring about 9 minutes into the 1st half and Rob Szymkowiak scored on the power play to put the Storm up by 2; but the lead didn’t last long – in less than 2 minutes Hammond, Toronto’s captain evened the game at 2 to end the half.
The 2nd half of the game proved to be much different than the first as the Storm exploded to score 6 goals, including 4 in a row by Francabandiero. The Storms struggling power play finished off the night clicking at 100%; Franco scored 2 on the PP while Szymkowiak added an assist and his 2nd PP tally of the game halfway through the 4th quarter to finish the night with 3 points.
2007 GLi All-Star Richie Latona stood strong in goal to earn his first win of the season stopping 29 Tigers shots, including 14 in the games final quarter. A key save on a breakaway at the start of the 3rd half seemed to be the turning point for the Storm, propelling the team to their 3rd win. Defenseman Brandon Gasiewicz rounded out the scoring with 4 minutes remaining in the game, veteran defenseman Paul Hockwater and forward Jon Deveny each finished the game with 2 helpers.
The Buffalo Storm welcome their rivals, the Hamilton Power to the Cheektowaga Recreation Center on Monday night as the 2 teams match-up for the 2nd time in a week. The Storm will be looking to reverse their fortunes this time around as last week, the Power finished off the Storm in OT as the team dropped their first game of the 2008 season.
