BRAEHEAD CLAN ended 2017 in impressive style, securing an emphatic 6-0 EIHL victory over Dundee Stars on Hogmanay and netminder Ryan Nie admits to being delighted that his team ended a somewhat up and down year in such positive fashion.

This was only the second time this season that the Clan have kept a clean sheet and Nie admits that while getting the win is the most important thing for his team, he was pleased about both his personal performance and the performance of the team as a whole in a month that saw the Clan claim only three victories from twelve matches. “It’s always a good feeling [to keep a clean sheet],” he said. “The most important thing is to get the two points but I’ll take it when it comes. We’re really starting to gel – offensively, those lines are really starting on come together and any time we score six, things are clicking.”

This home victory was particularly vital for Braehead as not only does it reinforce their dominance over their fellow Scots, the win saw the Clan rise out of the bottom four in the league for the first time in months and Nie reveals that ahead of the game, he and his teammates were under no illusions as to the importance of the match. “Coming into it, we knew it was a huge game – these are the games we have to win if we’re going to make a push towards the play-offs towards the end of the season,” he said. “We play Edinburgh and Dundee, I think, twelve more times before the end of the season’s over and those are points we have to have.”

Nie may have put in an impressive solo performance but a hat-trick by Tyler Scofield saw the netminder’s efforts somewhat overshadowed, but he was not the slightest bit worried about such matters. Braehead’s dominant victory on Sunday was particularly important as their busy schedule shows no signs of letting up, with the reverse fixture is this evening. The Clan wil travel to play Dundee once again but this time on their home ice and Nie knows that Scofield must be on his best form if Braehead are to continue their rise up the EIHL. “Good for Scofield – he’s been playing well all year and has been probably our best offensive forward all year and we need him to perform like that to be successful.”