Match Preview - Devils @ Braehead Clan

This weekend see’s the Devils take on the Braehead Clan at home in Glasgow. The Devils make the long trip up to Scotland on Saturday and then have a short rest before the Semi Final game v Belfast on Wednesday.

In Goal the Clan are admirably backstopped by Jaakko Suomalainen the 33 year old Finish player who joins the Clan having played last season with HK Jesenice in Austria. Jaakko is no stranger to Glasgow, having played for the Paisley Pirates back in 2001/2002 in the BNL. He played 17 games for the Pirates before returning to Finland to finish the season in the Finland 3 league with Karhu Kissat. Jaakko has played in some of the top European leagues such as the Finland 3 and Finland 2 as well as the SM-Liiga. Braehead Arena

The Clan are a great side this year with a trio of good goal scorers in Galbraith, Bayrack and Krestanovich and strong Secondary scorers in the likes of Bruce and Ryan Campbell, solid goal tending a decent defence and a wealth of experience in their line up and coach Drew Bannister.

Looking at the offensive side of  the Clan, there 3 top point producers and the ones to watch so far in the league are Jade Galbraith on 19 Goals 49 assists for 68 points, Mike Bayrack who only played 29 games   but has ammased an impressive  23 goals 26 assits for 49 points in them and Jordan Krestanovich on 21 Goals  23 Assists for  44 points

All 3 are in the top 15 scorers overall so far this season and with the 2nd line producing the points, they're very dangerous. Their PP has been strong the last few weeks and within consecutive games, they picked up 4PPG's per game off just 6 chances!

This is the fourth meeting between the teams this year with Clan leading the series 2-1 with that victory in OT on the road back in November.

The Devils will unfortunately still be without Brad Voth and Mark Smith and Max Birbraer who is out for the remainder of the year after requiring surgery earlier in the week.

The Clan have a new import in for this weekend in no other than Mike Wirll who joins from Carstairs Redhawks in Canada. From Wirll's stats, there's plenty of experience from the US and Europe http://www.eliteprospects.com/player.php?player=8484 also a friend of his Tylor Michel had these words to say about him " Braehead Clan sign Mike Wirll.....a super talented player when he's playing his game. Has a serious set of quick mits." 

As always we'll be running the “Childish and amazingly Biased” Match Night Live service for these two game, providing we can get texters for the away game Saturday, at the the usual location of www.theinferno.co.uk/mnl if you'd like to help out or chip in with some comments on the night please contact us at matchnightlive@gmail.com. Should anything go wrong (which it shouldn’t) we will move over to Twitter for updates so follow us there on @InfernoMNL

And don’t forget if you’re looking for somewhere to have a pint and a bite to eat while the Devils are out of town the Pilot in Penarth is only a short trip away and has a great Hockey friendly atmosphere, directions to the pub can be found here - http://www.the-inferno.co.uk/where-to-eatdrink/