The Storm did their part this past weekend to stay near the top of the VIJHL standings by going 2-0 on the road, but the Nanaimo Buccaneers remain atop the league by winning their game against Peneinsula to stay one point ahead.
On Friday the Storm traveled down Island to take on the Saanich Braves.
It took almost the whole first period for either team to find the back of their opponent鈥檚 net, but Campbell River鈥檚 Kyle Kaufmann finally solved Braves goaltender Riley Mathieson late in the first. The lead wouldn鈥檛 last for long, however, as the Braves would tie it up at one with only half a minute left in the first period.
The second period would prove to be a different story, however. Darren Hards would put the Storm up 2-1 just over mid-way through the period before Brett Kinley and Reid Lindsay would add to the lead, sending the teams to the dressing room at the second intermission under a scoreboard that read 4-1 for the Storm.
The Braves would open the scoring in the third, but 4-2 was as close as they would get as Jalen Price, Ryan Butler and Dylan McCann would all add to the Storm lead before the final buzzer rang out for a 7-2 final.
The Storm would walk into the Comox Valley Sports Centre the following night and were in for a much tighter fight, taking a 4-2 decision away and leaving them only one point back of league-leading Nanaimo but still six points up on the next closest team, the 8-6 Westshore Wolves.
As should be no surprise, the top section of the list of current league leaders in scoring is filled with Storm and Buccaneers. In fact, seven of the top 20 points scorers in the league are on the Storm roster. Forward Dawson Frank sits tied for second place on that list with 19 points (10 goals and nine assists), Storm rookie Ryan Butler is close behind in a T-5 with 17 points (11 goals and six assists), as is forward Darren Hards (six goals, 11 assists).
In goal, the Storm鈥檚 Spencer Deakin is tied for the league lead in wins (8) with Nanaimo鈥檚 Derek Krall and also sits just behind Krall in both Goals Against Average (2.05) and Save Percentage (.917).
The Storm鈥檚 next opponent is the Oceanside Generals, back here at home Friday (Oct. 27). Puck drop is 7:30.
