Storm finally secure another home win

Photo: Mark Ferris

Manchester Storm ended their disappointing home run with an excellent shootout victory over Sheffield Steelers in front of 2,227 fans in Altrincham.

The Steelers went ahead early when a bad bounce off the boards landed on the stick of Finlay Ulrick to open the scoring at 9:10 with Evan Weninger totally wrong-footed. However, Storm responded 52 seconds later off the hot stick of Jake Durflinger, scooping the puck high past Marco De Filippo. Storm’s good start to the game saw them rewarded with the lead at 13:13. De Filippo got caught playing the puck behind his net and didn’t make it back to his crease in time before Durflinger finished off Loren Ulett’s pass.

Storm led for well over 15 minutes before Brandon Whistle's shot from the wing beat Weninger five-hole to tie things up at 30:01.

All square heading into the third period, Zack Milton took a stretch pass and set up Gianluca Estevez to beat De Filippo low and put Storm ahead at 45:15. Again, however, the visitors struck back. An excellent backhand pass from Patrick Watling set up Mikko Juusola who finished on his backhand as well to tie things up with 8:50 to play in regulation.

A point each at the end of 60 minutes was fair on both teams. 1:54 into overtime, Storm thought they'd won it but the goal was challenged by the Steelers bench for goalie interference - specifically, a stick to the mask of De Filippo. The officials checked the video and called the goal back. With 1:10 left in the OT period, the Steelers accidentally threw four skaters onto the ice and were penalised for Too Many Men. De Filippo came to their rescue with a couple of big stops off Joe Morrow at the point.

In the shootout, Alexis D’Aoust and Ryan Hughes both scored without reply to put Storm two ahead through the opening two rounds. Juusola pulled one back in round four, but the Storm were unable to win it themselves. Instead, it was left to Weninger to deny Marc-Olivier Vallerand to win the hosts the extra point.