WHO needs Celtic to bring the Champions League to Glasgow when you have Braehead Clan?
Only four days on from the Parkhead club’s failed bid to get into Europe’s elite football competition, Clan became the first Scottish team to host the ice hockey equivalent.
That achievement should not be under played, nor should its significance pale when the results garnered within the tournament are analysed.
Against top seeds Vaxjo Lakers, Braehead put in a performance of such quality that it defied their short five-year history and modest financial resources compared with the Swedish champions.
Having lost the first game 10-2 in Vaxjo, a week ago a scoreline that to those in the know was seen as a major positive for the Scots, this 3-1 defeat to the cream of European ice hockey only underlined the potential of Clan ahead of another assault on the Elite Ice Hockey League.
In front of a packed Braehead Arena crowd of around 3500 – a regular sight these days – the hosts took a shock but deserved lead after just seven minutes. It came on the powerplay with former Stanley Cup winner Ric Jackman smashing a shot at goal only for Scott Pitt to knock on the rebound at the crease.
However, it was shortlived as Vaxjo equalised after 12 minutes. Clan had just recovered from being down on the powerplay with the return of Nathan McIver. He was back on the ice for less than 10 seconds, though, before Erik Josefsson’s lofted shot beat Chris Holt.
Lakers’ second arrived before the end of the first period. It will be one that will upset Ryan Finnerty, the Clan head coach, as their opponents were short-handed when Josh Hennessy’s shot squirmed under Holt.
Seven minutes into the second period, the visitors got a third on the powerplay through Richard Gynge slotting high into the net unmarked just outside the crease.
Braehead weathered the second- period storm and came out firing in the third. Brendan Brooks should have halved the deficit when one-on-one with Stefan Steen but the goalie blocked well. Tristan Harper and Stefan Meyer would also be denied late on as Clan rallied.
Their late rally continued but it wasn’t to be on what was a valiant attempt from the EIHL side. Next up is the visit of Germany’s Ingolstadt next Saturday night.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here