Storm win thriller against Flames

Photo: Mark Ferris

A 2,276-strong crowd at the Storm Shelter in Altrincham was treated to an 11-goal thriller on Boxing Day, with Manchester Storm running out 7-4 winners over Guildford Flames.

The Flames raced into an early lead. Ethan Strange one-timed Brett Ferguson's feed past Evan Weninger to open the scoring just 1:54 into things, while Charlie Curti stepped into the play to finish from a Sam Talbot pass just over four minutes later.

Three goals in under ten minutes then swung things back in favour of the Storm. Alexis D'Aoust fired home on the breakaway at 8:41 to get them on the board, and then Dallas Ehrhardt cut into the circle for a neat powerplay goal at 11:59 to tie things up. Grant Hebert got an a defensive clearance and needed only the one touch to slot past Jake Kupsky and put Storm ahead with 2:07 left in period one.

Captain Cam Critchlow beat Kupsky through a screen 6:09 into the second to make it 4-2, and although Josh Waller brought it back to 4-3 at 28:2, Joe Morrow shot from the point to score the home side's third powerplay goal of the night to put them back two ahead.

Cirtchlow's second of the night made it 6-3 with 2:30 remaining in the period, although Ryan Tait struck 17 seconds before the buzzer to bring the score back to 6-4.

Having seen 10 goals in 40 minutes, the crowd were given an easier time in the final period with just the one to cheer – Jake Durflinger calmly faking and then shooting into the empty net with 1:45 to go to seal a 7-4 win for the Storm.