Buffalo Storm Inline Hockey

After a disappointing loss to the Toronto Tigers last week, the Storm headed back to Toronto on Saturday morning to face off in a 2 game series, for the regular seasons final ‘showcase weekend’. In the days first game, the Storm squared off against the team that they were looking up at in the standings, the 2007 GLi Champion KW Rage. The Storm went down early, 1-0 thanks to an early KW goal, but Jon Deveny opened the scoring for the Storm less than 2 minutes later with his 2^nd goal of the season from Jason Francabandiero. The games 1^st quarter proved to be a seesaw battle as veteran d-man Brandon Gasiewicz knotted the game at 2 before the 1^st quarter ended; Franco picked up his 2^nd assist on the goal. Franco and Gasiewicz both found the back of the net again in the games 2^nd quarter, bringing the score to 4-3 at halftime. 

The games 2^nd half would prove to be much different as the Storm found their legs and blew the doors off the Rage, scoring 4 goals in the 3^rd quarter. Kevin Fischer scored twice while Dan Shannahan also netted a goal, Franco also chipped in his 2^nd of the game with just over 2 minutes remaining in the quarter. KW scored once in the 4^th to beign the score to 8-4, but the Storm’s Joe Bodkin quickly scored their 9^th of the game to seal the teams victory and secure the team 1^st place overall in the league standings. Goaltender Derek Mohney had a relatively easy time between the pipes as he only faced 21 shots on the game, making 17 saves thanks to a solid defensive effort by the Storm team. 

The afternoons 2^nd contest vs. the London Fury started off relatively slow as the teams spent much of the first 3 quarters feeling each other out, playing mistake free hockey. At the end of the 3^rd, the games in the Storms favor, 4-3; Shanahan, Tommy Smith, Jim Durham and Fischer each scored for the Storm before the start of the 4^th. The Storm proved to be too much for the Fury in the 4^th as they buried 3 goals in the games final quarter to wrap up the showcase with a 2-0 record. Shanahan scored his 2^nd of the game and Rob Szymkowiak returned from injury with his 1^st goal of the day. Durham scored the games final goal with a sweet move that left a London player’s head spinning with less than 3 minutes to play. Alternate goalie Matt Goulding got his 2^nd start of the season, improving his record to 2-0 with a 2.00 GAA on the season.