Fife Flyers vs Glasgow Clan

The Premier Sports sponsored Glasgow Clan reversed their recent momentum with a great four-point weekend rounded off by a 2-1 road victory against Scottish rivals, the Fife Flyers.

Glasgow got off to the perfect start with Brayden Burke stealing possession at the Flyers’ blue line and playing a backdoor pass to Brady Risk who sent home his first EIHL point after just three minutes in the game.

Ethan Hadden was unfortunate not to respond instantly for the hosts when a bobbling puck reached his stick at the opposite end at the backdoor and he couldn’t get enough purchase to direct the shot on target.

Sami Aittokallio then made a brilliant stop to deny Ethan Somoza who got on a breakaway shorthanded and faked a shot wide in front of the crease but was denied by the outstretched pad of the Finnish netminder.

Former Clan defenceman, Simon Despres bailed Fife out of a tough situation when Tristin Langan forced the puck into the crease with Shane Owen on his back trying to cover the goal, leaving the puck to trickle under his arm before Despres kicked it off the line.

Cade Neilson then gifted the opposition a breakaway after his drop pass behind his back went into open ice for Josh Winquist to skate onto and he made no mistake in equalising for the Flyers.

In the second period, Langan was denied after a smart play to pluck the puck out the air and create space on the right wing before driving a shot on net which Owen managed to blocker clear.

Austin Mitchell-King nearly got his second goal of the weekend after a backdoor pass fell to his stick but he fanned on the shot and Owen made an easy stop.

The two captains then got tangled up in front of the penalty boxes with them both holding on to each other not allowing either of them to join the play in the Flyers’ defensive zone.

Only Deven Sideroff was deemed to have broken the rules by the officials though and Fife got an extra skater over the boards, allowing them to score a second goal through Giordano Finoro.

The officials instantly took the play to review though and waved the goal off as Finoro had kicked the puck over the line, meaning Sideroff had to sit for two minutes and the Clan went on the penalty kill late in the second period.

Sideroff burst out the box and onto the end of a stretch pass from the alert Rylan Schwartz who played him in on the breakaway and the captain delivered a late go-ahead goal for Glasgow with some neat trickery.

Owen did well to keep the Flyers in the game during the third period with some big stops on Rob Lachowicz, Risk, and Langan late in the game but Aittokallio was inpenitrable at the other end.

Josh Nicholson was denied by the pipework on a powerful slap shot from the right wing on the powerplay before Finoro and Winquist were denied by Aittokallio’s blocker pad in the final five minutes of the game.

The Clan held on until the final buzzer to see out a 2-1 road victory and complete a four-point weekend in the final games before Christmas with a boxing day bash at Braehead with the Dundee Stars next on the schedule.