Coventry Blaze 4 - Clan 6
February 19, 2012
Clan completed a weekend double over Blaze and created a new club record of six straight wins as they moved above their opponents in the standings and into fifth spot – with still a couple of games in hand over the Skydome based side.
However, a bad weekend and a fourth straight loss for Paul Thompson’s men with the coach’s frustrations earning him a game misconduct late on.
The visitors were quickly out of the traps and led after only 36 seconds as Lee Mitchell scored his first goal for Clan. It got better for the Scots at 6.52 when skipper Jordan Krestanovich made it 2-0 but Blaze are never easy at home and at 13.46 Owen Fussey pulled one back to end the first period scoring.
It was Blaze who began the middle session the better and they levelled at 22.59 thanks to a strike by Robert Farmer but EIHL top point’s scorer Jade Galbraith then got on the score sheet at 30.24 to edge his side ahead once more. The scoring still wasn’t finished in this end to end encounter and at 37.05 Blaze skipper Jonathan Weaver tied it at three to leave everything still to play for going into the final period.
Blaze were first on the mark to lead for the first and only time when Greg Owen fired home at 45.48 but Clan kept on coming and it was 4-4 at 47.36 as Galbraith grabbed his second of the night.
Both teams clearly only wanted the win and it came Clan’s way when Matt Haywood slammed the puck in at 54.22 and with Blaze hitting late penalty trouble and losing coach Thompson it was Galbraith’s hat trick goal with 3 seconds left into the empty net that sealed it for the visitors.
Period Scores: 1-2, 2-1, 1-3
Penalty Mins: Cov 32 – Bra 6
Powerplay: Cov 0/1 – Bra ¼
Shots On: Peter Hirsch 42 + 1 ENG – Jaakko Suomalainen 35
Referee: Andy Carson
