Stormcast Episode 6: Stephen Johnson keeping Storm memories going for 26/27

Manchester Storm forward Stephen Johnson is more than happy to be back for what will be a fifth season as he looked back on his time with the organisation so far.

The 31-year-old first arrived on these shores in 2022 from Wichita Thunder in the ECHL and has seen it all throughout his time with Storm.

And he explained just how much the club has come to mean to him in that time as spoke on the latest episode of StormCast.

Heading to Manchester four years ago and getting to play with such a good group of guys in my first year was such a cool experience,

he said.

Critch was a big part of that and I grew up just down the street from him.  In fact, his brother was my best friend growing up so playing on the same team was something I was looking forward to.

Once I got over there, I loved it, how we were treated, the area we were in and everything that came with it was fantastic.  Plus being given the opportunity to play pro hockey was a dream come true so to do it in somewhere like Manchester is incredible.

Johnson also looked back on his memories from his years of playing in the Storm Shelter as the organisation moves to the AO Arena in the centre of the city.

He picked out one memory in particular that has stuck with him and is looking forward to seeing the club move into a brand new era.

We made the Storm Shelter our home and made the most of it.  The atmosphere was always great there, but the opportunity to move to downtown Manchester and play at the AO is super exciting.

he added.

We got a sneak peek at the end of the season about what it’s going to be like.  It’s definitely exciting and the ticket sales, from what I hear, have been really good too.

I have a lot of great memories from playing in the old building and one that sticks out was a play-off in my first year where we tied the game late against Sheffield Steelers to give us a chance going into the next day.

That, for me, was one of the best atmospheres ever.  Being my first year, it really showed what the fans were all about.  They really made it loud so I can’t wait to see how they transfer that into the new building.

Hear more from Stevo in the latest episode of StormCast which is available now wherever you get your podcasts. Download, subscribe and listen now!👇

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