TRADE-MART DUNDEE STARS 3 MANCHESTER STORM 2 SO
The Trade-Mart Dundee Stars secured their first Elite League points with a comeback win against Manchester Storm in Tayside on Sunday night, as they battled all the way through 60 minutes, overtime and a penalty shootout to get their first competitive win.
By Kris Smith
The Stars would have to face the Storm without forward, Johnny Walker as he served the first match of a two-game suspension for an illegal check to the head, which was not called on the play in Manchester on Saturday night and they faced a Storm side who made three changes to their line-up.
Lee Conner, Loren Ulett and Mitchell Martan came out of the Manchester squad and Callum Fryer was brought in to fill one of the gaps.
Despite a scoreless opening period, both Dundee and Manchester had created a number of chances but both Stars netminder, Kevin Carr and Evan Weninger in the Manchester net had started the game in fine form
In the second period, the crowd would quickly be amped up after a fight between Dundee’s Sean Allen and Callum Fryer, which was sparked after Allen laid a big hit along the boards but that would give the Storm a two-minute powerplay.
With their man advantage almost at its end, Johnny Corneil would get his stick-on Matt Murphy’s shot and redirect it past Carr on 26 minutes and Matt Ginn’s men would quickly end up back on the powerplay as Stars blueliner, Chris McKay was punished for a cross-check.
The visitors would then quickly double their lead as Tyler Hinam tucked in the rebound from Santeri Haarala’s shot, whilst falling over to make it two powerplay goals in two minutes.
Marc LeFebvre’s men were in need of a response and they had to step up their game, but luckily forward, James Phelan would emerge with a moment of brilliance to get the Stars off and running.
The Canadian would intercept a pass up the middle and quickly cut towards the slot, where he slung the puck into the top corner of Weninger’s goal to make it 2-1 after 37 minutes.
The Tayside team would then come out hungry in the third period and were hunting down the equaliser, which would come just four minutes in as Phelan turned provider, popping the puck out to captain, Drydn Dow from behind the goal for him to lift up over the glove on Weninger.
The two teams could the not be separated for the rest of regulation time or in the five minutes of three-on-three overtime, so a shootout was required and it would take nine rounds to find a winner.
The first to score would be Dow as he came in with pace and bear Weninger up high again but on the deciding shot, Andreas Heier would slip one through the five-hole of Carr to send the game into sudden death.
Heier would find the net again in round seven, forcing Brendan Harms to score to keep Dundee’s chances alive and he would send the puck into the top corner to keep the contest going.
The same set of players would both be denied in round eight before Santeri Haarala was unable to beat Carr, allowing Ryan Valentini to put an end to deadlock and he did just that as he used his fast hands to deke the puck quickly before popping it between the legs of Weninger.
The Stars finally had their first competitive win of the season and their first points on the league table, but now they switch their focus back to the Challenge Cup as double header with their cross-river rivals, Fife Flyers awaits.
Man of the Match
Dundee: #9 Ryan Valentini
Manchester: #52 Matt Murphy
Goals
1st:
2nd:
0-1 Johnny Corneil (Matt Murphy, Andreas Heier) 26:25 PPG
0-2 Tyler Hinam (Santeri Haarala, Matt Murphy) 27:52 PPG
1-2 James Phelan (Unassisted) 37:39
3rd:
2-2 Drydn Dow (James Phelan, Spencer Naas) 44:47
OT:
SO:
3-2 Ryan Valentini (Unassisted) 65:00 PS
Shootout
Round 1
Dundee: Ryan Valentini – Miss
Manchester: Santeri Haarala – Saved
Round 2
Dundee: Jake Elmer – Saved
Manchester: Tyler Hinam – Saved
Round 3
Dundee: Anthony Rinaldi – Saved
Manchester: Joe Morrow – Saved
Round 4
Dundee: Drydn Dow – Goal
Manchester: Stephen Johnson – Saved
Round 5
Dundee: Carter Johnson – Saved
Manchester: Andreas Heier – Goal
Round 6
Manchester: Mitchell Martan – Saved
Dundee: Drydn Dow – Miss
Round 7
Manchester: Andreas Heier – Goal
Dundee: Brendan Harms – Goal
Round 8
Manchester: Andreas Heier – Saved
Dundee: Brendan Harms – Saved
Round 9
Manchester: Santeri Haarala – Saved
Dundee: Ryan Valentini – Goal
All images: Derek Black.
