The Campbell River Storm continued their winning ways last weekend, showing the visiting Kerry Park Islanders why Rod Brind’Amour Arena is a place you really don’t want to be.
The Storm got off to a somewhat sluggish start in the game, but held tight on defence and kept the game scoreless until Ryan Butler found the back of the net to put the Storm up 1-0 halfway through the first period.
Kerry Park would pull even just two minutes into the second period, which turned out to be just the spark the home team needed. Captain Dylan McCann put the Storm back in the lead and Butler followed that goal with another of his own in the second.
The Storm came out of the dressing room in the third determined to keep their collective foot on the gas pedal. Brett Kinley, Ethan Schmunk and Kyle Kaufmann all added goals to the total in the third, Butler completed his hat trick and goaltender Spencer Deakin turned away the rest of the Islanders 22 attempts, giving the home team a 7-1 win.
That victory moved the Storm to 6-2 on the season and kept the Storm atop the North Division, as well as the league, with 12 points.
Butler also moved into second place league-wide in scoring with his three-goal performance against the Islanders and Deakin now leads the league in wins and sits second in goals against average with a 1.91 and a save percentage of .923. The Storm play host to the second-place Nanaimo Buccaneers back at home tonight (Sept. 29) before taking on the Oceanside Generals on Saturday.