Generals roll over Guelph heading into holiday break

By Dave Flaherty/The Oshawa Express

There may not have been a better way for the Oshawa Generals to head into their Christmas break.

The Gens left a proverbial lump of coal in the stockings of the Guelph Storm with a 6-1 thumping at the Tribute Communities Centre on Dec. 17.

Those in attendance were treated to an offensive showcase from the hometown heroes, as

Kenny Huether had the 5,014 fans leaping to their feet less than two minutes into the game scoring his 14th of the season.

However, the jubilation was short-lived as Guelph tied things up only 16 seconds later.

For the rest of the first and the initial portion of the second period, the game became a defensive battle, until Alex Di Carlo scored his fourth of the season at 5:06, a lead Oshawa would not relinquish for the rest of the evening.

Domenic Commisso would slip another puck past Storm backup goalie Nico Daws only 28 seconds later to put the Generals up by two.

After another long lull, the Generals dominated the score sheet during the third period.

One minute into the final frame, Huether tallied his 15th of the season, and second of the game, on the power play. Not to be outdone, Commisso added his second of the game as well at 3:17.

Matt Brassard would round out the scoring with his sixth of the year at 8:19.

Although he didn’t net a goal, team captain Jack Studnicka was a huge factor in the blow-out victory, racking up three assists, while Allan McShane had two helpers as well.

Kyle Keyser made 27 saves to pick up his ninth win of the season.

The offensive outburst matched that of the Generals 6-3 win over their rival Peterborough Petes on Dec. 15.

Hayden McCool arguable had the best game of his short stint with Oshawa, notching a hat trick, having only two goals the entire season heading into play.

Brassard also had an exceptional game, scoring twice and adding an assist.

The Gens players and staff will now have a chance to enjoy the holiday season, with a 10-day rest before returning to the ice next week.

Assistant coach Greg Nemisz said getting past Guelph was an important win for the team.

“We had a chance to catch Peterborough for sixth in our conference and it’s been a pretty adversity-filled first half. So to inch closer to .500 and get four points on our last weekend was a big deal for the team,” he says.

Asked about ending the first half of the season on such an offensive high note, Nemisz says the Generals do their best when they create scoring chances instead of trying to force them.

“We’re a talented team offensively. We run into trouble when we try to do everything off the rush. When we are on the cycle, staying over pucks and wearing teams down that’s when our offense is at its best,” Nemisz added.

Looking forward to the second half of the season, Nemisz says the team needs to improve its special team performance significantly.

The Generals are currently 19th in the OHL in both power-play and penalty-killing efficiency. Nemisz was pleased with the efforts of both in Sunday’s victory, as Oshawa was two-for-three on the power-play and successfully killed off all five of Guelph’s man advantages.

Even though they are currently tied for the bottom spot in the OHL’s Eastern Division, Nemisz says the team is very optimistic going forward.

“Our goal for the second half is to get home ice for the playoffs. I really think as a group we believe we can do that and we are confident we can have a really good second half.”

The Generals are next in action at the Tribute Communities Centre for a rare Thursday home game, Dec. 28 versus the Erie Otters.