COVENTRY Blaze began the season with two thrilling encounters against Manchester Storm in the Challenge Cup. Blaze suffered a 6-4 defeat in their season-opener at Planet Ice Altrincham as Storm scored two late goals to triumph. However, Coventry responded to win 5-4 in the return fixture at the Skydome Arena as Alessio Luciani scored an overtime winner. However, Manchester restored their three-goal lead in the second period at 27.37 as Joseph Nardi scored on the powerplay. Blaze secured an extra point in overtime as Luciani scored his second of the game at 63.18 from Gleason’s assist.