It was hard to say who was happier: Rowan Topp or his teammates.
The Guelph Storm defenceman finally got his first OHL goal Friday night, scoring in the first period of an entertaining 7-5 loss to the Oshawa Generals at the Sleeman Centre.
It came in his 111th game.
"It feels nice. Obviously it would have been a lot better if we'd have got the win," said Topp, 18, a player whose bread and butter is as a stay-at-home defenceman.
It was no cheapy either. Charlie Paguette's parallel pass just inside the Oshawa blueline found a streaking Topp, who took his time before firing a wrist shot to the top corner over the shoulder of Generals goaltender Jacob Oster.
He was mobbed by teammates after the goal, most notably by an exuberant Paquette.
"Me and Charlie have been joking for a while now about when I was going to get it. I'm really happy he was able to assist that. He looked pretty happy. I appreciate how happy he was for me."
Topp said there has been a lot of good natured ribbing from teammates about his scoring drought, but he said "he goes along with it."
"They know it's not my game, but to a certain extent it feels good to get one finally."
For the record, he got the puck.
Topp's goal gave Guelph a 2-0 lead and it ended that way after 20 minutes.
But the Generals, led by Beckett Senecke, rallied for four unanswered goals in the second period to take a lead they would never relinquish. Senecke would finish the night with the hat trick.
Storm made a game of it in the third period. Trailing 6-3, they got two goals from Max Namestnikov, the latter coming with 3:38 left in regulation.
But a Colby Barlow empty netter with 27 seconds on the clock sealed the deal for the Generals.
A valiant but somewhat predictable result considering Guelph's defence consisted of Topp, three rookies and two forwards playing defence for the night due to injury and illness to three regular defencemen.
Leo Serlin and Lev Katzin had Guelph's other goals. Jett Luchanko and Paquette each had two assists.
"We're making a push here and we're playing a lot better than we have in the past and I think that's important," Topp said.
"It's not ideal, but we do the best we can," Topp said of the shorthanded situation on the back end right now.
"The forwards are doing a great job with what they know. We managed well. It sucks we couldn't get the win, but I thought we had a decent game."
The loss leaves Guelph three points back of the final playoff spot, where Sault Ste. Marie and Owen Sound are currently tied.
Guelph plays in Flint Saturday then hosts the Sudbury Wolves Monday (Family Day) at 2 p.m.