StomCastEpisode 13 | The Crawleys

Former Manchester Storm forward Nick Crawley says seeing the Storm Academy graduates get a flavour of the AO Arena on Sunday was one of the best things of the game for him.

Crawley, who played for the Storm in the mid-90’s, was back in the building to witness Manchester’s first game of the new era against Sheffield Steelers in pre-season, with son Josh part of Cameron Critchlow’s side.

And Nick, who has coached in the academy, believes the coach deserves credit for giving the youngsters an opportunity in what was a stern test.

I was talking to Karey Lee, Connor’s mum about when we were coaching the kids and not knowing where they’re going to end up, whether they go abroad or whatever,

Nick Crawley

But we did say it would be cool to see them back at the arena one day and it all kind of happened over the summer.

Seeing Josh out there, the ice being down, the jumbotron back and just the whole atmosphere of being back - I must have spoken to about 100 people I haven’t seen in a long time. It was a really fantastic night.

One of the best things was seeing the four Storm Academy players getting some ice time - Noah Kaariainen and Bailey Thomas in defence along with Josh and Connor.

What a massive testimony to Critch for giving those guys the opportunity and he put the guys at parts in the game when it wasn’t a done deal so it was meaningful ice time for them.

It was a wonderful thing to see them out there in the arena and for a lot of people in the crowd.

Nick joined dad John, a former equipment manager of the club between 1995 and 2002 and son, Josh on the latest edition of StormCast, the official podcast, where they talked about their respective associations with the organisation.

For Josh, it certainly was a memorable couple of days after he turned out for Hull Seahawks on Saturday as part of his two-way deal with the NIHL National League side.

It was a great weekend,

Josh Crawley

I was playing for Hull on Saturday and it was good to play against Tilburg as I watched them when I was younger while I was over there for a tournament with the Storm Academy.

So I was happy to get a little goal at the end and then on Sunday, it was a great game to be part of, the first one at the arena.

The atmosphere was amazing and it was great to stand where my dad stood at one point.  Brad Jenion’s fight at the start was probably one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen.

It was quite surreal to think I was doing the same thing my dad was doing all those years ago.  I don’t think anyone expected it to happen, but Finner and Emma have done an incredible job.

The Crawleys joined the StormCast Podcast this week. Hear more from them on the latest episode:

🎧 Apple: https://bit.ly/Apple_StormCast

🎧 Amazon: https://amzn.to/4eL1XwU

🎧 Spotify: https://bit.ly/Spotify_StormCast

🎧 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ManchesterStormTV

By: Craig Anderson