Storm pick up third win in four

Photo: Scott Wiggins

Manchester Storm picked up third win in four games with a 5-1 thrashing of Coventry Blaze at the Skydome. 2,186 fans saw them do it, though the vast majority had hoped for a different scoreline heading into the Christmas period.

Loren Ulett scored twice in Storm's win."I missed last week with a flu, so was happy to get back into the team. It always feels good when you score but the team win is always the most important thing,” said the forward, whose team have seven points out of eight since Mike Flanagan left the club. "You never want to see anyone lose their job, but I think the team has reacted really well with the changes. We have points in four of the last five games since the change, and the way we’ve responded has been really positive."

As Storm broke on a 3-on-2 at the midway point of the opening period, Stephen Johnson's neat lay-off found CJ Garcia in space to beat Mat Robson and put Storm ahead at 10:41. 

That was a lead the visitors held until past the mid-way point of the game. Nick Seitz levelled for the hosts at 33:23 after Brandon Alderson's shot on the net hit some traffic in front of Even Weninger. Robson made a point-blank save to keep the Blaze on level terms shortly after, but could do nothing to stop Loren Ulett tipping a shot from the point past him at 38:18. 

68 seconds into period three, Ryan Hughes fed Alexis D'Aoust in front to put the visitors 3-1 ahead. Hughes then finished at the top of the crease from Grant Hebert's feed to make it 4-1 at 47:01, while Ulett completed an excellent 12-minute spell for the Storm with their fifth at 53:47.

"I love it here at the Storm, it was a very easy decision to stay for a second season," added Ulett. "We're looked after very well by the organised, and I actually just found out that I have family in Manchester which is very special as well."

That's where things stayed until the final buzzer, with Mike Morin's team moving two points clear in a playoff place.