Storm Weekend Recap – Home Double Header
Storm Weekend Recap – Home Double Header
Manchester Storm 3:4 (OT) Glasgow Clan – WATCH GOALS HERE
Manchester Storm 2:1 (SO) Guildford Flames – WATCH GOALS HERE
Last weekend the Storm took to home ice for Pink the Rink with a double header. Going into the weekend, we had a chance to climb above Guildford to 4th in the EIHL standings, provided we won our game in hand over Glasgow on Saturday, then extinguished the Flames the following night.
Glasgow were reluctant to lie down. A hotly contested game saw the Clan weather the Storm, besting us in overtime to take the extra point. This was a game where we started each period on the back foot, allowing the Clan the space to get set up against our defence. Evan Weninger did his best to stop 39 shots, but giving the joint top point scorer in the league – Gary Haden – the chance to shoot is always a recipe for disaster, and the Storm fell short on Saturday, taking a point from overtime.
Given the result from the night before, Matt Ginn demanded a response from his players, and did he ever get one! The Storm started this game with a high tempo to be proud of, creating a lot of scoring chances. Just under 6 minutes in, Austin Farley sneaks in at the back door to put the Storm ahead, rewarding an excellent start. Tempers flared, and chances came begging, but the game remained in reach for the Flames until the closing moments, where Matt Alvaro tied things up with a strong wrist shot up and over the blocker of Weninger to take the game to overtime. The game remained even throughout, with the shootout being necessary to split the two sides for that final point, and on the night, the shootout went the way of the Storm.
This means that, with Guildford taking a point from overtime, we remain a point behind them in the standings, and as this regular season draws to a close, the likelihood of us meeting them in the playoffs grows stronger. If the playoffs started today, Guildford would have a home-ice advantage over us, heading into the quarterfinals. Although there are still four weeks’ worth of games left to play, giving us chance to leapfrog them and steal home ice before the post-season starts. We’re not as high up in the table as we would like to be following last weekend, but a 3-point week is a good result, nonetheless. If the team are going to take that 4th spot from Guildford, they will need your support.
