ROUND-UP Stars weather the Storm to win two points

MANCHESTER Storm arrived in Dundee last night on the back of a 5-1 win over Belfast Giants but were sent home pointless as Dundee CCS Stars recorded a 6-3 win to pick up both points.

Manchester had the bulk of the pressure in the early stages but the Stars defence was resolute.

In 11 minutes, slightly against the run of play, the home side took the lead when Brett Switzer netted. However, Manchester’s response was immediate. They were level within 20 seconds with a goal from Adam Harding.

Stars increased pressure on the away goal but couldn’t find a way through as the period ended all square at 1-1, with Dundee outshooting Storm 12-8.

Just over one minute into the middle session, Stars found themselves in penalty trouble when Mikael Lidhammar was given two minutes for delay of the game. Once again their penalty kill team did their jobs and the game remained level.

One minute later, Matt White found Lidhammar at the back post but his effort went agonisingly wide.

In 28 minutes, the home side took the lead with a goal from Switzer, his second of the game and ninth of the season. Vinny Scarsella almost made it 3-1 a minute later when he fired in a shot only to see it come back off a post.

Dundee went on the powerplay after 31 minutes when Omar Pasha was given two minutes for hooking. They made it pay when Kevin Bruijsten scored for a 3-1 lead.

Manchester were rocked and took another penalty in 34 minutes with Narco Nagtzamm sitting out two minutes for holding.

With 28 seconds left in the period, Cale Tanaka took a two-minute minor for hooking that meant Manchester would start the final session with a one minute 22 seconds powerplay.

Again, Dundee successfully saw out the remainder of the powerplay and t he score remained at 3-1 to Stars.

In 45 minutes, good link-up play from Justin Faryna and Lidhammar set up a shot from Switzer that brought out a good save from Mike Clemente in the Storm nets.

Stars increased their lead to 4-1 in 51 minutes through Felix Poulin, his sixth goal of the season.

Two minutes later, the scorer turned villain as he was was given two minutes for holding. However, as they had done all night, Stars’ defence held off the Manchester powerplay.

Storm did get back on the scoresheet in 55 minutes when Matt Bissonnette netted to bring the game back to 4-2.

Stars weren’t to be outdone and Joey Sides added a fifth goal with three minutes left.

Back came Storm and Mark Wheatley added a third with 45 seconds to go. Stars weren’t finished as Switzer completed his hat-trick with one second remaining to give them a 6-3 win and two valuable Conference points.

After a start where Storm took the game to the home side, Dundee took control and deserved their win.

Stars’ director Stephen Ward said: “The players gave a professional show and got stronger as the game went on.

“For the first half of the first period, I thought Manchester were the better side. However, we then took control of the game and never looked back.

“The players are performing well and that is shown in the fact we have taken 11 points from a possible 14.

“Marc LeFebvre is doing a great job and he has 100% backing from us. This is the fastest team we have seen in Dundee since we started in 2001. They are exciting.”