An exceptionally early quarter final 2nd leg Flames goal immediately extended the already 4 goal aggregate lead and Taz Burman pitched a shutout to produce a 4-0 win over Manchester Storm and a 9-1 joint scoreline across the pair of legs while advancing Flames to the playoff semi finals at Nottingham where they will take on league champion Sheffield Steelers.
Just 16 seconds into the evening, Nick Ouellet opened the scoring and extended the Flames aggregate lead to 6-1.
Early in the 2nd, Ryan Tait made it a 2-0 count and a Bradley Lalonde follow up before the game was halfway through had Spectrum’s men 3 goals to the good on the evening and a 7 goal spread combined through 40 minutes.
About 7 minutes into the 3rd, Tait’s 2nd converted a powerplay to secure the evening and a berth at the championship event.
Burman was perfect on 20 shots against Evan Weninger who made 43 saves on 47 tries.
“We couldn’t have asked for anything more over the course of the quarter final,” said Paul Dixon.
“In the week of training in the lead up we felt pretty good about where we were and how guys seemed to be approaching things, but you never know how things will turn out when you are up against a team who are as good and have done exactly what you have done to be ready.”
“In the end they came good, and they should be very proud of getting us back to the Final 4 event and I know we are all excited to get ready and do what we can to get into the Trophy game.”
