Manchester Storm 4 - 3 Sheffield Steelers

Written by: Charley Longden

A seven goal thriller at Planet Ice Altringham gives Manchester Storm an incredible victory over bitter rivals Sheffield Steelers. The two sides couldn't be separated after overtime as the game was levelled at 3-3, forcing the two sides to go into a shootout. Noah Delmas stepped up for the storm and became the hero to give his side the win, a massive blow for the Steelers in their bid to win the league.

The Storm flew out of the traps, and were all over the Steelers in the opening minutes of the match. The high-intensity was rewarded when forward Adam Brady opened the scoring for the home side on the 8th minute.

The Steelers fought back however, and applied some high-intensity pressure of their own. The pressure and the gravity of the match became apparent as a fight broke out between Keaton Ellerby and Linden Springer, both men were handed a penalty, however Storm's Springer was given a much more serious punishment, a 20-minute penalty for kicking.

In the space of just over two minutes, the Storm found themselves behind, as Marc-Olivier Vallerand and Matias Sointu both scored to put the away side ahead. The Storm were left scratching their heads going into the first intermission as their hard fought lead had been snatched from them at the drop of a hat.

The two sides struggled to create clear cut chances throughout the 2nd period, as no goals were scored. The only notable incident was a 2-minute penalty awarded for the away side as David Phillips was called for slashing.

The game kicked into life in the 3rd period, as the Storm flew out of the traps and hit back with an equaliser in the 48th minute. Frankie Melton was the man that dragged the home side back in to life with a power-play goal.

Yet again, the lead wasn't to last, as the Steelers grabbed a third goal just 2 minutes after the Storm had equalised. Robert Dowd scored with a power-play goal to regain the lead for his side in the 50th minute, leaving the Storm with just 10 minutes to find the answer.

Tension was brewing as the match heading towards it's denouement, however it was the Storm that held their nerve, as Tyson Fawcett was the man to find the crucial equaliser in the 56th minute. Just 4 minutes from the final whistle. The game was heading to overtime.

After 5 minutes of overtime neither side could find the all important goal, meaning the game would go to a shootout.

Dissimilar to the previous 65 minutes, after 5 attempts each, neither side could snatch the victory. Meaning the shootout would go to sudden death. As the Steelers had just missed, the Storm's faithful turned to Noah Delmas in the final hour, who drove the puck into the Steelers' goal to win his side the 3 points in the most dramatic fashion.

With the Steelers dropping points and Belfast Giants getting an emphatic 5-0 victory over Guildford Flames, the Giants are now three points clear at the top of the table. The Steelers do however, have a game in hand. The title race appears to be going down to the wire.

After 49 matches, the Storm sit 9th in the league table, 4 points behind Guildford Flames in 8th. The Storm only have 5 matches left of the season, and will be hoping that the late victory over the high-flying Steelers will fire them up for the final few fixtures. The Storm will play Guildford Flames in their final two matches of the season in what could be an excellent chance to break into the top 8.

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