Your Go Goodwins Manchester Storm skated away from the Storm Shelter this evening with their heads held high, after forcing the league leading Cardiff Devils to dig deep, before coming away following a thrilling end to end game with a 4-2 loss.

The first period couldn’t have started out better for Coach Omar Pacha’s side, with Darian Dziurzynski converting superbly from a Cody Cartier pass with 2:54 played in the period to give the home side a deserved lead. The pressure continued for the next 10 minutes, with Storm going close on numerous occasions before the Devils finally got into the swing of things, which saw the home side defending a continued assault on the Storm net until the period ended.

Storm continued to weather the pressure from the Devils early in the 2nd period. Despite this constant pressure, the Storm’s D held rock solid, until after almost 14 minutes of continual attacking the Devils were finally able to take the lead, with player-coach Andrew Lord grabbing the Devils first of the night with 6:03 left to play in the period, when he deflected in a high shot from Matthew Myers over the pad of Clemente in the Storm net. Storm seemed to catch a second wind following the Devils opening goal, and continued to push hard for a second, but got caught short following a fantastic chance that was deflected away by Bowns, which saw Patrick Asselin able to score on the counter-attack with 36s left in the period.

The hockey to begin the 3rd period saw the play flow end to end, with both sides going close to scoring! The Storm however saw the Devils double their lead with 7:14 to go in the period, when Sean Bentivoglio sneaked one past Clemente, much to the delight of the travelling Devils fans! With the Storm on a 5on3 power play, Mark Heatley was able to grab the Storm their second goal of the night, JUST as the Devils penalty expired, breathing life back into the game for the Storm! This hope however was short lived, as with Clemente on the bench and a turnover in the offensive zone, the Devils were able to score their 4th of the night with 1:22 to go in the period as Joey Haddad slotted home.

 The Storm now look ahead to tomorrow’s game away to the Belfast Giants, Wednesday’s away game to the Braehead Clan, before returning home to face the Edinburgh Capitals on Saturday the 11th of March, faceoff at 7 pm. Tickets can be ordered online, by calling the box office on 0161 926 8782, or in person at the box office!