Manchester Storm forward Joseph Nardi has attributed the team’s success to the fans this season as they head into the final few weeks of the regular season.

With a play-off spot confirmed, it’s all about playing for places to determine who Cameron Critchlow’s side will face in the quarter-finals next month.

But the contribution of the fans, who look set to sell out the Storm Shelter again for this Friday’svisit by Coventry Blaze, hasn’t gone unnoticed by the 28-year-old.

“I can’t explain how much it means to me and the team to have so many sellout crowds at the Shelter,”

he said.

“The atmosphere has been incredible and feeds our energy during the game. Any time we play at home we want to win, we value our fans a ton and they are a huge reason for our success this season.

Playing for the Storm has been awesome. Our team is so close, and it makes it fun to come to the rink every day.

We know what our end goal is and it’s fun to collectively come together and strive towards what we want to do.”

Attentions are firmly on the visit of the Blaze on Friday, who themselves may be looking towards their Challenge Cup Final against Nottingham Panthers next week.

Nardi insists that despite the play-offs locked in, nothing has changed in terms of the team’s focus and it’s all about taking the win.

He added:

“With our group and staff, our mindset hasn’t changed after securing a play-off spot. We want to continue to get better every weekend and obviously peak when the post season starts.

The goal is to play consistent hockey and continue to climb up the standings. We understand how good of a team Coventry is and they give us a hard test every time.

Nothing really changes with regard to the Challenge Cup coming up for them, but we want to start the weekend off right, playing a complete game and look forward to getting two points.”

By: Craig Anderson