There was Friday night hockey in Nottingham as Coventry Blaze and Manchester Storm met up for the second time in this competition.  Storm won the previous meeting, but could they do it again against Danny Stewart’s men?
DAILY HEADLINES:
PRE-GAME POLL
? WHO WILL WIN? ?
? @covblazehockey ? @Mcr_Storm
? #2021EliteSeries
?@nottinghamarena
? 7pm
? https://t.co/RhJ2ucMU0M— British Ice Hockey ? (@BritIceHockey) April 9, 2021
GAME RECAP
COVENTRY BLAZE 4 MANCHESTER STORM 5 (OT)
Scott Simmonds fired Manchester Storm to victory as they shot down Coventry Blaze for the second time in six days in overtime.
Another closely fought game between the teams, who both came into this one on the back of defeats, produced another absorbing contest, in which Manchester emerged triumphant again.
The game was barely two minutes old when Craig Peacock got his first goal of the competition as Matt Haywood helped him out with the assist and some good fortune as the puck went in off a Coventry D’s skate.
But Luke Ferrara marked his return to Danny Stewart’s side with a goal a couple of minutes later and a fast paced start to the game was developing in the early stages.
Storm restored their lead on the powerplay a couple of minutes from the end of the first as Ciaran Long added to his tally for the tournament so far.
Ryan Finnerty’s side then moved into a two-goal lead with an excellent snipe from Joe Hazeldine, with a low diagonal finish from Max Fortier’s pass.
Blaze got to within one when David Clements’ shot from the blue line got a tip from Sam Duggan on the powerplay.
But Manchester responded 22 seconds later as Jacob Lundell Noer squeezed the puck in at Jordan Hedley’s near post to make it 4-2, where the score stayed by the end of the second.
Tristan Keck had been a thorn in the Storm side for much of the game, without getting any reward, but it changed when he sent a shot in over Sean Bonar’s shoulder to get a third for the Blaze.
As time went on, Coventry couldn’t find the momentum to pull it level, but up popped Clements with a well-struck blue line shot that flew into Bonar’s net and send the game into overtime, earning at least a point for their efforts.
But Simmonds, with a low well-struck shot proved to be enough in the extra period as Manchester took the points.
SHOTS ON GOAL: Blaze 35 Storm 37
GOALSCORERS:
Blaze – Luke Ferrara (03:38 – Pohlkamp); Sam Duggan (26:42 – Clements, Jermain PP); Tristan Keck (48:03 – Laakkonen, Ferrara); David Clements (59:26 – Bryhnisveen, Venus)
Storm – Craig Peacock (01:49 – Haywood); Ciaran Long (17:46 – Ehrhardt, Simmonds) PP); Joe Hazeldine (21:45 – Fortier, Fawcett); Jacob Lundell Noer (27:04 – Hazeldine, Gran); Scott Simmonds (62:17 – Long, Batch)
POST GAME REACTION
PHOTOS
