Giants win, but Storm comeback earns point

Photos: Mark Ferris

Belfast Giants won their first away game of the season in a shootout, but made hard work of it against a Manchester Storm team that produced a great comeback to earn a point.

It was a strong start for the Giants who led by two after the first period. Curtis Hamilton converted Patryk Wronka’s feed to open the scoring after five minutes exactly, but just 70 seconds later Kyle Hope levelled things up. Bobby Farnham and Ben Lake however scored 54 seconds apart to put the Giants into a solid lead after 20 minutes.

Two Curtis Hamilton goals extended that lead to 5-1 with only 26 minutes gone in the game, at which point the Storm opted to replace Matt Ginn in net with Adam Long. Layne Ulmer pulled one back at 30:24, and then the home crowd really got into things when Tyson Fawcett make it 3-5 with 38:05 on the clock. Seven minutes into the third period it was a one-goal game, Cameron Critchlow taking the noise up a level with the Storm back in it.

With 2:41 the comeback was completed, Dallas Ehrhardt shooting from almost the sideboards along the goal-line and the puck somehow working it’s way past Shane Owen.

No goals in overtime meant that the game was decided in a shootout. Mario Puskarich was the lone scorer for Manchester, while goals from Ben Lake, Hamilton and Smotherman won the extra point for the Giants.

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