Steelers' first period enough to beat Storm

Photo: Mark Ferris

A three-goal first period did the damage for Sheffield Steelers on the road in Altrincham, beating Manchester Storm at a sold-out Steel Shelter.

An ill-advised drop pass as Storm broke into the Steelers' zone sent the visitors on an odd-man rush the other way, with Max Golod opting to shoot and beating Evan Weninger glove-side to open the scoring at 10:43. Less than three minutes later, a Mitchell Balmas shot from the wing squirmed its way through Weninger and trickled over the line to double the lead. Mark Simpson fired home a Cole Shudra feed to make it 3-0 at 14:39 as Mike Morin called his timeout to steady the Storm who had conceded three goals in under as many minutes.

Whatever was said by the Storm interim coach then, and during the break, worked. Cam Critchlow capitalised on a neutral zone turnover to snipe past Matt Greenfield 3:58 into period two, and a little under five minutes later Storm were back to within one - a puck fell kindly for Grant Hebert to set up Alexis D'Aoust all alone in the slot and make it 2-3.

3:26 into period three, the Steelers ended up on a two-man powerplay which prompted Aaron Fox to call his timeout in an effort to make it count. Storm held out, and then had a Robert Dowd interference minor to try and level things with 11 minutes to go. For all the home side's possession in the final 10 minutes, they didn't work Greenfield into any serious saves and instead were left chasing. Weninger was pulled in the final 90 seconds although coach Morin had no time-out to call, and as Storm dumped the puck for one final attack Kevin Tansey scooped the puck down the ice from below his own goal line to settle the game with an empty-netter with 10 seconds remaining.