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Blaze suffer Storm defeat

The Genting Casino Coventry Blaze suffered a 5-2 road defeat against the Manchester Storm in the Elite League on Saturday.

Blaze found themselves on the back foot early when Mike Regush was penalised for a face-off violation just 19 seconds into the game. Manchester capitalised on the resulting powerplay, with Tyler Hinam opening the scoring off assists from Dallas Ehrhardt and Cameron Critchlow.

The Storm doubled their lead at 14.44, converting a two-on-one opportunity as Alexis D’Aoust found the net from a Craig Martin pass. There was a brief review of the goal after Blaze netminder Mat Robson was bumped during the play, but the officials quickly deemed it valid, much to the delight of the home crowd.

Coventry pulled one back at 25.05 when defenceman Terrance Amorosa fired in a shot from the blue line, assisted by the league’s top provider, Regush (27 assists), along with Brandon Alderson.

The game’s physicality escalated past the halfway mark. After a big hit from Blaze’s Morten Jurgens, the Estonian forward was challenged by C.J. Garcia, leading to a fight and five-minute penalties for both players.

Shortly after, Manchester’s Hinam was ejected for repeatedly trying to punch Coventry defenceman Mike Kennedy despite being restrained by two officials.

Storm thrived in the chaos, adding two more goals before the second intermission. Man of the Match D’Aoust netted his second of the night at 33.57, with Critchlow and Martin each securing their second assists. Then, at 35.21, Stephen Johnson made it 4-1, assisted by Ryan Hughes and Gianluca Estevez.

Coventry’s struggles continued in the third period as Critchlow extended Manchester’s lead to 5-1 at 48.04, with Martin picking up his third assist of the night.

The Blaze managed a consolation goal at 57.06 when Brandon Alderson converted on the powerplay, assisted by Amorosa and Chase Gresock, while Owen Griffiths served a penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct.

However, despite out-shooting their opponents 33-44 over the content, that was all the visitors could muster as Manchester ended their six-game losing streak with a commanding 5-2 victory.

Photo credit: Mark Ferriss

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