Storm win battle of playoff-chasing teams

Photo: Mark Ferris

Manchester Storm avenged a 3-0 shutout defeat by Fife in their last meeting with a 4-1 victory over the Flyers on Saturday night.

In this battle of the two teams outside of the playoff places, that neither could really afford to lose, Fife went ahead at 8:26 through Bari McKenzie who buried a rebound in front off Jason Bacashihua. Tyson Fawcett somehow got the puck past Shane Owen 70 seconds later to tie things up. 

The scores stayed level until late in period two. Adam Brady put Storm ahead with a shot straight off Jaren Vanwormer's faceoff win to make it 2-1 at 35:21. With six seconds left in the period, Dallas Ehrhardt finished nicely on the powerplay to give the hosts a two-goal advantage head into period three. 

Curtis Hamilton, assisted by Storm man of the match Harry Gulliver, gave the home side some breathing room with the Storm's fourth 1:54 into the third. Fife had a couple of chances to find a way back into the game but a miss-placed pass or shot off-target seemed to sum up their night.

Manchester stay two points behind the playoff places ahead of four straight games coming up with Sheffield. Fife are now nine points off the pace with only eight left to play themselves.