Time for the second in this small series of end of season reflections. We've looked back on the Belfast Giants in the first of the nine; it's now time to focus our attentions onto the Gardiner Conference Champions: the Braehead Clan.
Season in summary: Once more the Clan had the ability to deliver the first real silverware to the fanatical Purple Army, but once more they failed to do so and had to instead had their fourth Gardiner Conference title in five seasons. This was despite having three of the top four points scorers in the EIHL in their ranks. Braehead certainly could have won something more than the Conference title but blew too hot and cold when the pressure was really on. That resulted in the change documented later on.
Performance of the Season: As a non-Clan fan it's hard to probably pick out one result that stands out more than the other since the majority of their wins were Conference ones. However, I'm going to go for the 5-2 home win over the Panthers where netminder Gary Russell recorded his first win on his first home start.
Low point of the Season: Even though the losses to Edinburgh were hard to take, I'm picking out the play-off quarter final against Dundee as my low point of the Clan season. Clan lost both matches and were shut out in the second leg; which denied them a place in the final four. Not that this stopped the Purple Army having a party in Nottingham though as usual.
Player of the Season: Picking a player of the season was a case of which one of the three deserved. Scott Pitt scored the goals whilst Matt Beca and Alex Leavitt provided excellent support to him. I'm going to go for Beca, a man who has put points up constantly throughout his career. Whether he features next season is still unknown; but I'd keep him.
Anything else? Like Belfast, Clan will have a new man behind the bench next season. Ryan Finnerty is gone after three seasons at the helm, and replacing him is 40 year old Canadian/German John Tripp who undertakes his first full campaign as a head coach. A veteran of nearly 600 DEL games as a player, Clan fans will be hoping this twice NHL drafted guy will be the man they want to deliver glory to them. It's going to be interesting...
In the third edition, we feature the Cardiff Devils.
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