By Terry Phillips
Cardiff Devils 2, Manchester Storm 3
Furious head coach Andrew Lord was brutally honest after Elite League leaders Cardiff Devils slipped to a 3-2 home defeat against Manchester Storm at Ice Arena Wales.
“I am really ashamed,” said Canadian Lord, who has stepped back from playing and looked on from the bench.
“This is the most unhappy I have been all season. Our first 20 minutes were not good enough.
“Storm completely outworked us, out-battled us. Tons of credit to Manchester, who were short of a couple of bodies, and played with a desperation.
“Their transition was quicker than ours, they were jumping up and players blocked shots with any part of their bodies. We did none of that.
“That is unacceptable. We simply did not turn up.
“We need to bring heartland energy. That Cardiff Devils passion. We start again against Coventry Blaze on Boxing Day.”
This was Storm’s first ever win at the IAW and it came despite being shorthanded against a full strength home team. Patrick Valcak, Eric Neilson and Paul Phillips were ruled out and player-coach Omar Pacha called up Welsh teenagers Sam Bryant and Rhys Harding to help them.
Devils took an early lead when Chris Culligan scored after nine minutes 18 seconds with assists going too Sean Bentivoglio and Andrew Hotham.
Storm hit back with a powerplay by captain Trevor Johnson after 18-54 and the visitors went ahead through Taylor Dickin as the second period came to a close.
Manchester goalie Mike Clemente was in hit form and, with the Storm skaters working hard to protect him, Devils could not find a way through.
Mario Trabucco fired past Ben Bowns to give the Storm a two goal lead (46-41), but Gleason Fournier pulled one back on a powerplay with Joey Haddad and Bentivoglio adding assists.
Devils pulled goaltender Bowns and threw themselves forward. Storm held firm and almost made it 4-2, but Haddad threw himself full length to deny them a goal into the empty net.
Match stats:
Scorers, Devils: Chris Culligan 1+0, Gleason Fournier 1+0, Sean Bentivoglio 0+2, Andrew Hotham 0+1, Joey Haddad 0+1.
Storm: Trevor Johnson 1+0, Mario Trabucco 1+1, Taylor Dickin 1+0, Matt Bissonnette 0+1, Darian Dziurzynski 0+1, Omar Pacha 0+2, Connor Varley 0+1.
Period scores (Devils first): 1-1; 0-1 (1-2); 1-1 (2-3).
Powerplays: Devils 1/8; Storm 1/6.
Shots on goal: Devils 18+13+7=28; Storm 15+9+5=29.
Referee: Dean Smith
Attendance: 2,761
Stars of the game: Devils, Scott Hotham; Storm, Trevor Johnson.