TICKETS: Your Go Goodwin’s Manchester Storm are back in home action on Monday 26th Dec, when we take on the Dundee Stars (5:30pm) here at the Storm Shelter! Tickets for both games can be ordered online or by calling the box office on 0161 926 8782, or in person at the box office.

Your Go Goodwins Manchester Storm are back in action this Friday, taking on league leaders the Cardiff Devils at 7:00 pm at Ice Arena Wales.

The teams are coming into the game on the back of mid-week Challenge Cup games, the Devils progressing to the semi finals courtesy of an 8-3 aggregate victory over Dundee, and Storm suffering late heartbreak in Belfast. Both teams were also in Elite League action last weekend, each team earning 2 points. Cardiff started the weekend with a 3-2 victory over title rivals the Sheffield Steelers, before going down 5-2 at the NIC in Nottingham. Manchester’s solitary game resulted in a penalty shot victory over the Fife Flyers.

This is the 4th meeting between the teams this season, as the team’s have met twice in the Challenge Cup and once in the league. The first meeting between the teams finished 4-2 to the Storm, Mario Trabucco rounding off this Challenge Cup game with an empty-net goal after Darian Dziurzynski and Matt Bissonnette had put Manchester up 3-2. The next meeting between the teams went to overtime, a Connor Varley double forcing the extra period, before Joey Martin secured the points for the Devils in the Elite League. The last matchup ended in a 5-3 victory for the Cardiff Devils, a goal from Jack Prince and a Mark Heatley double were not enough to secure the points, as Phil Spanswick made his Storm debut in this Challenge Cup match.

A glance at the league standings shows the Cardiff Devils sitting on top of the table with 39 points from 25 games, some way ahead of the chasing pack of Belfast and Sheffield. Whilst the Devils have been in good form in the Erhardt conference they have been in particularly excellent form when they have faced the Gardiner conference sides, securing 20 points from a maximum of 22 in their 11 games. The Storm still find themselves in the middle of a titanic mid-table battle, with only 3 points separating 4th placed Nottingham from 9th placed Dundee. After last week’s victory over the Flyers, Manchester have 21 points from 22 games, 2 behind Nottingham, and are also locked in a tussle for the top spot in the Gardiner conference, as they currently occupy second spot in the conference.

Storm will be without the injured Valcak, Neilson, & Phillips for tonight’s game. However both Sam Bryant & Rhys Harding will be guesting for the Storm.

The games between the two teams this season have been tight affairs, with a maximum of 2 goals separating the teams in previous matchups, and this one could be a similar affair.

ONE TO WATCH: GB international Ben Bowns is in his third season as the starting netminder with the Cardiff Devils. After proving himself in Hull, he has been one of the top netminders in the league and has cemented his place as GB’s number 1.

MATCH DETAILS:

• Game at the Ice Arena Wales
• Doors open from 6:15pm
• Face-off at 7:15pm
• Live Twitter updates from the game will be via StormLive
• Storm will be in their WHITE away jerseys