TICKETS: The Go Goodwin’s Manchester Storm are back in home action this SATURDAY & SUNDAY (19th & 20th November), as we take on the Braehead Clan & the Fife Flyers respectively, here at the Storm Shelter. Face off is at 7:00pm on the Saturday & 5:30pm on the Sunday, and tickets can be ordered online or by calling the box office on 0161 926 8782, or in person at the box office.

Hey Storm fans,

I hope you’re all well!

Firstly, apologies for lack of updates the past few weeks, it’s been very busy here at the Storm Shelter.

So, what’s been happening I hear you ask?! Well, it’s fair to say Justin Bieber created quite the “Storm” with his arrival to skate with the team here @ SilverBlades Altrincham. He was due to appear on 3 previous occasions that week, but failed to show up, so when he eventually did, it was a surprise to everyone! It took a mountain load of calls/texts to organise, but we got there in the end. Fantastic PR for the Manchester Storm. The news article was top of the BBC Website for 24 hours, BBC World had us on TV, plus multiple other TV networks both here in the UK and abroad, not to mention the top radio stations and newspaper publications that ran with the story too. Truly superb PR exposure for the organisation.

The “Pink The Rink” night was simply superb, and a lot of cash raised for the Christie Charity. We had Jon Hammond dyeing his hair pink to raise cash (or so he tells me anyway!!), Eric Neilson dyeing his hair AND beard pink to help raise vital funds also, which was immense. All in this season, we have raised over 7k, which is simply immense. The Bieber jersey went for just shy of 3k, again, superb to see. A HUGE thank you to all the fans for your support in raising such a large amount, I know The Christie are overjoyed at the money raised. We will be organising an official handover with the hospital in the near future, so we’re looking forward to that also.

On the team front, it’s been a tough past few weeks with injuries incurred. Losing influential forwards, Darian Dziurzynski & Patrik Valcak, was tough for the team, especially with Adam Harding on the side-lines for such a sustained period too. We are grateful to both owners, Mark Johnson & Mike Petrouis for agreeing to us bringing in short-term injury cover in the form of Dutch International, Nardo Nagtzaam. Last Saturday, we then lost Eric Neilson to an horrific eye injury which I think everyone has since seen on social media. That was a scary incident, especially for Eric, and had us all worried for a while. Thankfully he was looked after well at the Manchester Eye Hospital and had an op first thing on Sunday morning. He re-visits the eye specialist this coming Monday, and we’ll ensure the medical advice given then is followed. So, for all the fans asking when Eric will return to the line-up, we will await that medical advice and ensure the player is 100% fit and ready before he laces the skates back up.

Patrik Valcak is still experiencing a lot of discomfort with his injury, but we are hoping he also makes a quick recovery and gets back on the ice in the near future, he is missed massively, especially on home ice where he has been excellent for us. That all said on the injury front, we are still well placed in the league & conference and we want to kick on this coming weekend in both of our home games. Thankfully, some good news for you all on the injury front, as both Darian Dziurzynski & Adam Harding will return to the ice this coming weekend vs Braehead (Sat 7pm) & Fife (Sun 5.30pm) @ home.

Again, on the team front, congratulations to all the guys on qualifying out of what is a very difficult Challenge Cup group for the second consecutive season & advancing to the ¼ finals of the competition. Qualifying out of that group is no easy task, as we are lumped with some of the real powerhouse & established teams, so to qualify is very satisfying for all within the club. We now face the Belfast Giants in that ¼ final game with the first leg at home on Wednesday 14th Dec (7pm) and then the 2nd leg 6 days later at the SSE Arena in Belfast. Whilst knowing how good a side Belfast are, we have our eyes set on advancing to the semi-final stages and believe we can do just that. With us being pitted against Belfast at this stage of the competition, we now play them 5 times (3 times @ home, 2 away) in just under four weeks, so I would expect a bit of rivalry to build up there during these games, given how often both sets of players are going to see each other! We have an excellent ticket offer in place for the ¼ final game on Wed 14th December, so what a great opportunity to bring along friends/family/work colleagues to the game and introduce them to the best sport on the planet!!! Tickets are available now online & from the Box Office (0161-926-8782).

Some of you will have seen we trialled our first Storm webcasts last weekend, and what an excellent success they were too! As many of you will know, I was skeptical about whether to run a webcast or not, so I brought in a couple of respected people from the hockey webcast world to aid us last weekend with the trial. They helped provide all the necessary equipment and support required, which was second to none & thankfully all the feedback was brilliant. We will be running a webcast for Saturday’s home game vs Braehead Clan, but unfortunately won’t be able to run one on Sunday vs Fife.

We also have the OSC Christmas night on Sunday 18th December @ the Cresta Court Hotel. This will be a great night for everyone, and is an event I know the players are looking forward to attending, so get your tickets now for what promises to be another superbly organised evening from the OSC.

We announced another new sponsor earlier today, it is great to have Verace Restaurant aligned with the Manchester Storm. Verace owner Roberto Calcagno is super excited to be linking up with the club, so get down to his amazing restaurant in Sale and check out their food….the players will all testify as to how amazing it is!

Whilst we’re on the topic of commercial work, as I’ve mentioned many times before, a lot of these deals that get done are driven by you, the fans, so keep spreading the word for us and if you are interested in any further information on the offers available, please don’t hesitate to contact me. (gm@manchesterstorm.com)

Well, that’s enough from me, it’s just gone 7.45pm and i’ve a double header weekend to finish off preparing for, so I look forward to seeing you all on both Saturday (7pm) & Sunday (5.30pm) night at the Storm Shelter. Let’s have the Storm Shelter rocking all 120 minutes and go take those 4 vital league points.

Regards,

Neil Russell

TICKETS: The Go Goodwin’s Manchester Storm are back in home action this SATURDAY & SUNDAY (19th & 20th November), as we take on the Braehead Clan & the Fife Flyers respectively, here at the Storm Shelter. Face off is at 7:00pm on the Saturday & 5:30pm on the Sunday, and tickets can be ordered online or by calling the box office on 0161 926 8782, or in person at the box office.