A SUDDEN death overtime winner from defenceman Blair Scott kept the Storm on track for their first Superleague championship last night. But injuries to forwards Stefan Ketola, Kelly Askew and leading scorer Jeff Jablonski put a dampener on the result.
Askew was stretchered off late in the first period, as a precaution following a dead-leg injury, with the score tied at 2-2 while Ketola and Jablonski both retired from a bruising encounter midway through the second period and all three are doubtful for tonight's second game in two days against the Bees.
And with the Challenge Cup semi-final first leg in Sheffield on Saturday Storm coach Kurt Kleinendorst may be tempted to rest all three, saving them for the crunch game in Ayr next Wednesday. Storm started brilliantly with Mike Morin sweeping home a Ketola centre inside two minutes but Bracknell fought back to lead 2-1 after 10 minutes with goals from Chris Brant and Jeff Johnstone.
The home side had to dig deep to tie the first period with veteran forward Rick Brebant's precise finish to a Rubachuk pass. Man of the match Brebant scored a superb second five minutes into the second period firing a backhand shot past Bees Italian international goalie Bruno Campese after a mazy dribble. The Bees levelled with a powerplay as Dennis Chasse fired home through the legs of Frank Pietrangelo and with neither side able to break the deadlock in the final ten minutes the tied game went into a dramatic overtime.
Storm gained the extra point with a hotly disputed winning goal as Blair Scott netted from close range.
The hard fought victory stretches Storm's lead at the top of the table to six points with six games remaining and they have to do it all again against the Bees tonight.
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