The Flyers opening league match of the 2025/26 campaign saw them travel to Altrincham to meet the Manchester Storm. The Flyers were still without the injured Justin Ducharme and gave Shane Owen the start. Also in the visitors line up for his debut was Keegan Cairns drafted in following the release of Aiden Wilson. The Storm who managed to get break a 6 game losing skid the night before scratched Tyler Hinam and Evan Weninger along with a number of their younger two way players.

The Storm almost grabbed the opening goal inside the first minute as the puck came out from behind the net and with Shane Owen scrambling Stephen Johnson whiffed on his shot. In the 3^rd minute a face off win set Johan Porsberger up for a shot which Drew Deridder did well to get a pad on. A minute later and the Flyers we caught on an odd man rush with Owen holding on to the shot by Rais Francis. The Flyers from another face of win in the 6^th minute tested Deridder who made a blocker save from a shot by Vlastimil Dostalek. Owen a minute later also flashed the pad as he got his left leg out to stop a Chase Harrison shot from the circles.  In the 11th minute the Storm turned the puck over inside their zone and Mason Alderson shot short side on Deridder who made the save. The Flyers went on the first powerplay of the game in the 13th minute when Ethan Somoza was sprung from the Storm blueline and as he went in on goal Deridder tripped him. Porsberger had an early shot and Andrew McLean late on in the man advantage had a couple of attempts but Deridder denied all comers and the Storm returned to full strength. In the 17^th minute Brady Gilmour went in all alone on Owen and as he was about to go backhand the puck bobbled over his stick and the chance was gone. The Flyers were then shocked in the final minute as the Storm grabbed a pair of goals in quick succession. The first at 19:12 was created by Brandon Cutler who beat Owen short side with a snap shot from the circles. The Flyers were then caught on the rush and with Owen out aggressively of his crease expecting a shot the Storm worked the puck to an angle that left Brady Gilmour with a wide open net to hit.

After a quiet opening to the second period Didrik Svendsen went down in the corner after a battle with JD Dudek and at the next stoppage in play the incident was reviewed to determine if there was a major penalty after it left the Flyers man with a bloodied nose. The footage was inconclusive and play resumed at even strength. The Storm extended their lead at 27:29 when Johnson picked the puck off of Somoza’s stick in the neutral zone and sped in on goal. Owen tried a poke check but the puck skittered over to Gilmour who had another gaping net to hit. Less than 60 seconds later the Flyers lost another as Dudek went streaking down the right wing and as Owen bit on a shot he went around the back of the net and beat the Fifer keeper on the wraparound at 28:18. Almost immediately after the restart Ian Scheid hit Loren Ulett in neutral ice and Cutler came in and instigated a fight with the blueliner which saw the Flyers go on another two minute power play after offsetting majors were dished out. The Storm were strong on the kill and returned to full strength but within seconds were back on the kill as Harrison was assessed a delay of game for shooting the puck over the glass. The Flyers got in the board with the man advantage as Keaton Jameson pick a fine pass to Garet Hunt at the back door and from the edge of the crease he deflected the puck home at 32:24. The Flyers were then in penalty trouble as Mason Alderson took back to back minors for tripping and a high sticks respectively but Owen didn’t have to deal with anything other than a couple of routine catches although on the second kill Josh Winquist and Somoza broke 2 on and 1 with the latter rattling a one timer off the cross bar with Deridder struggling to get across his goal.

The Flyers had 12 seconds of the second penalty to kill to start the third period which they succeeded in doing.  The Storm went back on the powerplay in the 43^rd minute as Alderson got the gate for slashing the stick out of the hand of the Storm defenceman as he was driving the home goal. The home side however created nothing of note. Returning to full strength Winquist feathered a great pass to Porsberger and his first time shot brought out a great pad save by Deridder as he went post to post. Jaka Sturm was then denied close in by the Storm netminder who was again in fine form and in the 47^th minute he stuck a pad out to stop a huge blast by Jameson from up top. At the stoppage Keegan Cairns cross checked Stephen Johnson and was handed a 10 minute misconduct penalty and Jameson was also binned on a delay of game call. The Storm took advantage of this with another goal after Owen had made an initial save Cutler picked up the rebound and hit the net. It could have been worse for the visitors on the next shift as Kyle Locke missed the net from the low slot. In the 51^st minute Deridder was showing his skills again as he stopped Somoza and Ryan Nicholson on arguably the Flyers best shift of the game. Moments later and Porsberger was denied by the keeper on an attempted wrap around as he sealed his post.  The Storm were opportunistic again at 52:23 when Kaleb Ergang was left with an empty net to shoot at after Nicholson on the back check slid into Owen and wiped him out. Hunt took a boarding penalty in the 56^th minute which the Flyers had almost killed when the Storm were penalised with Bradley Jenion going to the box after a slash on Owen that started a scrum round his net. After skating 4 on 4 for a short while the Storm ended the game by completing the kill without any further action on either net.

Pic Credits – Manchester Storm

Fife Flyers are next at home on Saturday 11th October when they entertain the Guildford Flames – tickets can be bought online here:  Tickets – Fife Flyers or look out on social media channels for box office opening times.