Devils edge out Storm in wild game

Photo: Mark Ferris

Cardiff beat Manchester by the odd goal in 11 in an entertaining game in front of over 1,800 fans at the Storm Shelter.

Manchester led after the opening 20 minutes thanks to a thunderbolt form Cam Critchlow with 2:18 played, firing home from the point off Talyer Thompson's feed. The Storm had the better of the chances in the first but were unable to beat Taran Kozun again to extend their lead.

Jared Vanwormer was called for a slash behind the play to set the Devils up on a powerplay which they only needed five seconds of to make count - Cole Sanford hooting through a screen from the edge of the circle to tie things up. 90 seconds later the Devils led thanks to a Stephen Dixon tip on Matt Register's shot from the blue line to put the Devils ahead. A crazy three-minute spell saw the storm tie things up at 30:37 after Ben Davies' pass was intercepted and Curtis Hamilton was set through to fire past Kozun 1-on-0. 

Storm re-gained the lead with 1:37 left in the period when he and Thompson broke on an odd-man rush, the latter setting up Hamilton to finish five-hole for his second of the game. Josh Lammon struck back 57 seconds later when his shot hit Ben Wilson's skate in front of Ginn and deflected through. 

Matt Register wristed home top shelf at 42:56 to put the Devils back ahead on the powerplay, Just under five minutes later the Devils extended their lead on a bizarre play when Josh Lammon's shot deflected off Finlay Ulrick's skate and then bounced in off a falling Ginn. The play was reviewed for potential goalie interference, but the goal upheld. Mark Louis' shot deflected past Ginn off Dallas Ehrhardt's skate to put the visitors 6-3 up with 10:25 to play.

Finlay Ulrick was on hand for a neat finish after a Tyson Fawcett shot was saved by Kozun to cut the deficit back to 4-6 at 53:29, before the Storm made the final minute a very exciting one.

With 53 seconds left, Cam Critchlow got his second of the game to give the home side hope of earning a point. With the goalie out and six skaters on, Kozun made an excellent last-ditch save to deny Critchlow coming in on a loose puck at the top of the crease, and the Devils survived to take the two points.

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