Elite Ice Hockey League

BRAEHEAD CLAN 1

SHEFFIELD STEELERS

By Stewart McConnell

FOR the second time this season, Clan were outmuscled by the Yorkshiremen at Braehead Arena on Friday night.

They began well against a strong visiting team but a poor display in the second period saw them match all out of their reach.

It was a positive performance from Clan but another disappointintg loss.

Christoffer Bjorklund had a chance at 4.05, when his opportunity escaped from Steelers goalie Ervins Mustukovs, but the defence scrambled back to recover. Then at 6.42 the visiting goalie made a superb glove save to deny Lee Esders.

The visitors almost went 1-0 up shortly after when Colton Fretter burst through on goal, with Ryan Nie saving for the Clan before doing the same to Tim Wallace on a rebound.

Steelers went ahead at 11.30 when Mark Matheson's shot from just inside the blue line left Nie beaten as it went in from a deflection.

However Braehead levelled shortly after as Clan won a face-off, with Tyler Scofield smashing a shot on target that trickled over the line despite Mustukovs' best efforts.

Landon Oslanski hit the post not long after, but both sides were level after an entertaining first period.

Steelers edged ahead in the second when Ben O'Connor sent a shot into the top right hand corner of the net to give them another lead.

Mustukovs made a great save to deny Tyler Scofield in the third, which needed the Steelers goalie to recover quickly to cover.

But Matt Marquardt's shot from inside left all but secured the points as his shot flew into the net to open up a 3-1 lead.

Scofield went close late on as the Clan looked to salvage something, but Mathieu Roy finished things off with an empty net finish with just seconds remaining.