MANCHESTER STORM 3 TRADE-MART DUNDEE STARS 2
The Trade-Mart Dundee Stars were in Altrincham on Saturday night as they paid their final regular season visit to Manchester Storm and they were in search of a much-needed win to close the gap to English side, in the race for a playoff spot.
By Kris Smith
The Stars were down three players as Ben Brown and Jonathan McBean were away fulfilling their two-way contracts and Swedish forward, Romans Semjonovs was out due to a lower-body injury.
However, Dundee made a great start to the game and took the lead after just three minutes, as Carter Folk buried his shot past Jeremy Brodeur from point-blank range, after some good play down low from Elijiah Barriga and Ryan Verrier.
However, after a few powerplay opportunities for the Storm, the home side eventually drew level through Anthony DeLuca in the final minute of the first period, as he converted with Barriga in the box for tripping.
Although, Dundee were not disheartened by conceding late and made another quick start in the second session as Folk turned from scorer to provider, when Ben Sokay batted his lofted pass into the Manchester net, just 90 seconds after the restart.
Matt Ginn’s men did not take as long to respond this time and on 25 minutes, DeLuca hauled his side back onto equal terms once again, as he went through on goal and converted on the breakaway with a very late move to tuck the puck past Anton Svensson.
Then just two minutes later, Tyson Fawcett put the English side in front as he finished off a rebound after Svensson made the first save but was unable to recover in time to stop Fawcett’s attempt.
The Stars comeback effort was then dealt a blow as they lost first line forward, Hugo Reinhardt for the rest of the game as he was ejected for boarding Manchester’s Zac Herrmann and Dundee would successfully kill off the five-minute powerplay that followed and spanned into the third period.
Although the final stanza was quiet affair with no more goals and despite a last-ditch attempt from Jeff Mason, his Stars side were unable to find an equaliser, despite having periods of significant control.
The Stars now return home to finish off the weekend against Cardiff Devils on home ice and they welcome the Welsh side after their 5-2 defeat to Guildford Flames at home, on Saturday evening.
Man of the Match
Dundee: #38 Carter Folk
Manchester: #71 Anthony DeLuca
Goals
1st:
0-1 Carter Folk (Elijiah Barriga, Ryan Verrier) 02:58
1-1 Anthony DeLuca (Zac Herrmann, Jonathan Desbiens) 19:15 PPG
2nd:
1-2 Ben Sokay (Carter Folk, Johan Eriksson) 21:31
2-2 Anthony DeLuca (Unassisted) 24:52
3-2 Tyson Fawcett (Jake Bricknell, Joseph Hazeldine) 26:29
3rd:
All images: Storm Images.
