It’s still early, but the Campbell River Storm are undefeated.
The Storm opened its 2012/2013 Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League campaign Friday night at Rod Brind’Amour Arena, coming off a 2-0 pre-season.
The Storm opened the scoring in Friday’s game off a James Severs goal, following an opening ceremony that recognized last year’s provincial champion Bantam Tyees rep team at centre ice. Mayor Walter Jakeway got things started with a ceremonial puck drop. The first period saw both teams held scoreless, with the Storm outshooting the Generals 12-8. In the second period, Severs lit the lamp off Jesse Spooner’s errant pass. Five minutes later, the Generals pulled even while on the powerplay. The Storm then showed off impressive defensive skills, killing off a seven-minute penalty.
In the third, the Storm’s Alex Grupe pulled the home team ahead 2-1 with just three and a half minutes remaining. Oceanside once again put themselves on even ground with a backhand that beat Storm goalie Jordan Salas with 40 seconds to go. That forced overtime, which solved nothing and both teams headed to the shoot out. Salas stopped all three Oceanside shooters, while Oceanside goalie Alex Mastrodonato stopped the first two Storm shooters. The Storm’s third shooter, Carsen McCulloch, was the hero, beating Mastrodonato and sealing a 3-2 win for the Storm.
On Saturday, the Storm travelled to Parksville for a re-match against the Generals. Storm goalie Curtis Bagnall came up big and notched a shutout in a 2-0 win. Scoring for the Storm were Robbie Christensen and Mikey Markland.
With the wins, the Storm are 2-0 and sit tied atop the North Division standings with this year’s expansion team the Nanaimo Buccaneers. The Storm are back in Campbell River Friday night to take on Nanaimo at 7:30 p.m.