TICKETS: The Go Goodwin’s Manchester Storm get their season underway, as they host the Braehead Clan in the Challenge Cup on Sunday, 3rd September, here at SilverBlades Ice Rink Altrincham! Tickets can be ordered online by clicking here, by calling the box office on 0161 926 8782, or in person at the box office.

Pre-season is over. The Challenge Cup starts TODAY as your Go Goodwins sponsored Manchester Storm take the trip up to Glasgow to take on the Braehead Clan, facing off at 7:00 pm.

New look Challenge Cup: With the addition of two new sides to the Elite League this season, the Challenge Cup format has been changed to three groups of 4 sides each. Occupying Storm’s group are the Braehead Clan, Nottingham Panthers, and Sheffield Steelers. Teams play each other twice, and the top two qualify automatically with two of the third placed teams also getting through with a wild card.

Busy pre-seasons for both sides: Both teams have undertaken an extensive pre-season, readying their players for the upcoming season. Braehead have faced away trips to Nottingham and Cardiff, before welcoming Loewen Frankfurt, of the German DEL2, and the University of Manitoba Bisons to the Braehead Arena. These games provided new Braehead coach John Tripp the opportunity to play with line combinations against tough opposition before the competitive games get underway. In particular, the newly assembled squad showed promise in their 5-4 victory against Frankfurt. Storm faced local rivals Sheffield Steelers and conference rivals Coventry Blaze Home and away, with pre-season culminating with a 8-7 overtime victory over the Blaze, in an entertaining game on Wednesday.

Braehead not at full strength yet: Braehead still have a couple of signings to make yet, although they recently added Christoffer Bjorklund and former NHLer Ryan Potulny to their squad. Bjorklund spent the beginning of last season in Sheffield playing for the Steelers, before helping Mora gain promotion to the SHL. Storm have had their team fully signed up for a few weeks now, however, both Shane Bakker and Chris Auger have missed some of pre-season with knocks. At the time of writing, there was no indication whether either would be dressed this weekend.

One to watch: Mike Embach joins the Clan after a successful ECHL career, scoring almost a point per game. The Illinois native has impressed during pre-season.

MATCH DETAILS FOR TONIGHT:

• Game at the Braehead INTU Arena: intu Braehead, King’s Inch Rd, Glasgow G51 4BN
• Doors open from 6:00pm
• Face-off at 7:00pm
• Tickets can be purchased online or on the day HERE – Away fans sit in block “H”
• Live Twitter updates from the game will be via StormLive
• There is NO live stream for this game
• Storm will be in their WHITE away jerseys

TICKETS: The Go Goodwin’s Manchester Storm get their season underway, as they host the Braehead Clan in the Challenge Cup on Sunday, 3rd September, here at SilverBlades Ice Rink Altrincham! Tickets can be ordered online by clicking here, by calling the box office on 0161 926 8782, or in person at the box office.