The Storm began the season with some hope and optimism but the first game ended in a disappointing 4-1 loss to the Durham West Lightning. The score wasn’t indicative of the play but certainly reflects some weaknesses that need to be addressed. Against a weak skating team, the Storm had some difficulty finding their legs which eliminated a major advantage. Where the Lightning were able to capitalize on a small number of scoring chances by crashing the net, the Storm were ineffective in front of the opposition goalie. Although the Storm had a 26-13 advantage in shots on net, their shots were largely off the Lightning goalie’s pads. As well, no one was there to intercept some big, fat rebounds. The Storm also had a significant territorial advantage and won 22 out of 30 faceoffs.
The line of Caitlin-Alicia-Maddie continues to control the puck and create good scoring chances. Caitlin scored the Storm’s only goal on a breakaway with an excellent deke over a sprawled goalie. In fact the game was close until 2 late Lightning goals put the game out of reach.
