After squeaking home it has to be said on Sunday evening against the Storm, we conclude our Challenge Cup qualifiers against ironically the same outfit; albeit this time in the Silver Blades Ice Dome at Altrincham. Storm will be icing one import short as new signing and former Devil and Steeler Devin Didiomete has not been signed in time to take place. Didiomete replaces Slovenian Gal Koren on Omar Pacha's Storm roster.
Will he be the Did-iot that was gassed by Cardiff or the actually decent one that did quite well in the five games he iced as cover when Tyler Mosienko was unfortunately banned? We will find out in due course.
Last Meeting:The
two teams last met in Altrincham as part of the Storm's pre-season
schedule. Brad Day was between the pipes for the Steelers that evening,
and despite trailing to Matt Sisca's early goal, Russ Moyer levelled
matters for a shared first period. Vinny Scarsella scored the lone goal
of the second stanza and Storm fans were dreaming of a quickfire double
having beaten Corey Neilson's Panthers there just a few days previous.
Yet
Steelers scored three times in the final 20 through Fredrik Vestberg,
Colton Fretter (just three minutes separated those strikes) and after
Zane Kalemba had been sacrificed for an extra attacker, Tyler Mosienko
found the empty netter for a 4-2 road win.
Links Between The Sides: We've mentioned him
previously, and the only current link between the two teams is the afore
mentioned Devin Didiomete. On his day, he can be either a liabilty or a
class act. Let's hope that Mr Pacha gets the good version as opposed to
the one that annoyed the hell out of the EIHL when in South Wales.
Suppose the penalty box attendants best get ready for his impending
arrival...
How Deeds looked in Orange, decent player on his day
Overall Record: Sunday's game was the
second meeting of the sides since Storm's rebirth this summer, and
Steelers have won both. However if you look at the previous incarnation,
the record read 29 wins to the Steelers, 22 wins for the Storm and 8
draws. Quite close contests these Wars Of The Roses don't you think?
The Players To Watch: Matt
Sisca (Storm) - Definitely the stand out player for Storm in my (and a
few others too) eyes on Sunday evening. He has the skills, and alongside
Scarsella and Salazar, will lead the Storm in points scoring this
season. He iced for Bolzano last season and played in the Champions
Hockey League for them as well. He is definitely the one we need to pay
some special attention, if Sunday is anything to go by. Oh and his
birthday is the day before mine, 30 October haha.
Mathieu
Roy (Steelers) - Our very own Mathieu is due a multi point night soon,
and it could be Wednesday in Altrincham actually? That aside he's still
averaging a point a game so far, 9+6 in 15 games iced. Storm will have
their work cut out keeping him quiet if he's on his "A" game, but then
again we have plenty of other offensive threats in that roster.
Prediction: As we said before Brad Day played in the pre-season encounter, and with top place in the group almost guaranteed (well we need a point to be mathematically sure), I can see Thommo giving Brad some more ice time on Wednesday night and rest Tyler ahead of another huge weekend ahead. If we play as well as we know we can, it's an away win but we can't underestimate the hosts. I think we will do it, say 4-2 again in the Ice Dome.
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