Braehead make it 3 out of 3

Braehead Clan 3 – 1 Cardiff Devils

Braehead Clan kicked off their second season with a feisty opening weekend, scoring a total of 10 goals over the course of their games against Dundee and Edinburgh.

But this fixture against the Cardiff Devils was always going to be the team’s first real test of 2011/12.

The home side were very much the aggressors in the first period of play, and their persistence paid off as Adam Walker opened the scoring with an unassisted goal at 12.59. A powerplay soon followed and allowed Brock McPherson to net the second of the evening for the home side.

A slower second period passed by without much incidence. Both netminders turned away a barrage of shots and kept the score at 2-0 going into the final period of play.

Cardiff seemed to wake up in the third, and finally got on the score sheet with a powerplay goal as Max Birbraer beat Jaakko Suomalainen at 50.43.

This gave the visitors a second wind and, with ten minutes remaining, the newly-energised Devils were relentless in pursuing an equaliser. Tensions mounted higher as Tim Wedderburn was called for hooking, giving Cardiff a powerplay with less than three minutes left on the clock.

The Devils pulled their goaltender to capitalise, but Braehead withstood the onslaught and with 14 seconds of the game remaining, player/coach Drew Bannister fired into an empty Cardiff net to seal the game.

So the Clan remain unbeaten in their league campaign thus far, but a tough Cardiff away game awaits them on Sunday night.

Jaakko Suomalainen had another great game and was rightly named Braehead’s Man of the Match.

Clan newcomers Brock McPherson and Sam Zajac both put in impressive performances, the former putting his size and strength to good use and the latter refusing to be intimidated by larger opponents.

Jade Galbraith may still be waiting to net his first goal for the Clan, but by racking up another assist in this fixture he’s proving to be integral to the team’s offense.

Referee: Michael Hicks
Period Scores: 2-0 / 0-0 / 1-1
Powerplay: Braehead 1/4, Cardiff 1/3
Penalty Mins: Braehead 6, Cardiff 8
MoM: Braehead – #1 Jaakko Suomalainen, Cardiff – #25 Phil Hill