12 Oct 2024, 19:00 | Regular season | Altrincham Ice Dome |
Manchester Storm | 4-3 SO | Sheffield Steelers |
Periods: Shots: | 2-1 (12-9) | 0-1 (4-18) | 1-1 (9-7) | 0-0 (4-3) | Total: 29-37 |
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Referees: Joe Sewell/Andrew Miller | Spectators: 2227 |
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Goals and assists
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.