BRAEHEAD CLAN have won their first piece of silverware of the new season by lifting the inaugural Scottish Elite Cup at Murrayfield.
John Tripp’s side were joined in the new competition by rivals Edinburgh Capitals, Dundee Stars and the Fife Flyers over the weekend before being crowned champions last night over the Kirkcaldy club.
On Saturday, the Glasgow side recorded a 4-2 victory to ease their way past their hosts Edinburgh.
Braehead tested Pavel Shegalo in the Dundee goal and it was the Glasgow side that opened the scoring in the first. A sweeping move down the inside right ended with Mike Embach finishing things off and the Caps found themselves behind.
Jacob Doty added a second in the final minute of the opening stanza, firing a low diagonal shot past Shegalo.
Edinburgh hit back a minute after the restart when Sergei Banashkov skilfully dragged the puck across the front of Nie’s crease to beat him.
Then Bari McKenzie helped to set up former Capitals coach, Richard Hartmann, who scored against his former club in a well worked move.
Landon Oslanski scored Braehead’s fourth of the game, a rebound, after Cameron Burt had worked his work up the inside left, with his shot rebounding out for his team-mate.
Edinburgh pulled another back through Igor Valeyev with a backhand finish, but it wasn’t enough in the end as Clan soon confirmed their place in last night's final.
Fife Flyers booked their place earlier in the day with a 6-2 win over Dundee Stars.
In last night’s decider it proved to be plain sailing for the team from the west who cruised to victory.
Captain Brendan Brooks had them ahead in the first period before Oslanski’s crucial deflection on the power play put Clan on easy street.
The lead would grow to three by the time the second period came to a close, Braehead striking once again on the power play through Craig Peacock.
Ian Young clawed one back for the Flyers in what proved to be a bad tempered game littered with penalties, but it wasn’t enough to knock Tripp’s men as their competitive games tally this season went to three wins from four games.
In the third-placed play-off, Dundee were defeated 3-0 by Edinburgh.
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