A terrific effort from a short-benched Manchester Storm saw them push an impressive University of Québec-Trois-Rivières (UQTR) all the way, narrowly losing 6-5 in an entertaining pre-season encounter.

A terrific opening period pulsated from start to finish, with the visitors opening the scoring through some good team play in the fifth minute. However, the Storm came flying back into the game after a wonderfully executed powerplay, rounded off by a heavy slap shot from CJ Garcia. A delayed penalty afforded the hosts the chance to get an extra skater into the offensive zone, and a pinpoint pass from Ehrhardt found the on-rushing Esteves, who scored his second goal in as many nights in the 14th minute. A shocking turnover in front of the UQTR netminder landed on the stick of Lee, who immediately fired on goal; this attempt was deftly redirected by Milton to extend the Storm’s advantage to two goals. A wrist shot through traffic from UQTR’s blueliner somehow evaded the melee in front of Weninger and nestled into the Storm net with seconds remaining in the first twenty, halving the deficit UQTR faced.

A big moment for UQTR was denied by an excellent stop from Weninger, who stood tall to maintain the slender one-goal advantage in the 24th minute. However, the game-leveller eventually came for UQTR, as a wonderful individual goal from Gravel squared things up after 27 minutes. The planned netminder change for the Storm at the halfway mark saw Oldale take the crease, and the young Brit was immediately thrust into action, making multiple good stops in quick succession. The mounting pressure from UQTR eventually turned into a goal, as Dumoulin rushed into the attacking zone and fired a precise shot over the glove of Oldale.

The visitors followed suit and switched their goaltenders for the final period in the spirit of pre-season. However, in the 44th minute, a soft goal conceded by Lavallée levelled the score and might have had the UQTR coaching staff questioning their decision. A determined effort from Ouellet outlasted Oldale, who turned aside two shots, but a third from the UQTR forward could not be kept at bay, making it 5-4 in favour of UQTR. The university outfit were evidently finding their stride at this point, and a sixth was quickly added to hand them their first multiple-goal lead of the match. The see-sawing encounter continued as Hinam made full use of the man advantage with a piece of individual brilliance to bring the Storm back within one goal, with just over six minutes remaining. A powerplay in the dying embers of the match for the Storm was unfortunately not converted, despite plenty of chances being created in front of the UQTR crease.

Words by: Callum Schora