BRAEHEAD CLAN’S players have been given the vote of confidence by the club’s bosses.
It has been an indifferent start to domestic duty for the team that came to within a point of winning the Elite League last season, only to be pipped by the Sheffield Steelers.
A strong squad was also assembled over the summer by Ryan Finnerty ahead of their maiden trip into Europe where the fought valiantly in the Champions Hockey League.
Their league form has not quite lived up to the Purple Army’s expectations however, with Clan currently sixth in the standings having recorded four wins from 10 games.
Undoubtedly a contributing factor to this first phase of matches has been Braehead’s need to hit the road for almost a full month as a result of Disney On Ice moving into their own rink.
But Gareth Chalmers, the side’s hockey director, believes there are positive signs that the tide is beginning to turn and that Finnerty’s squad have what it takes.
“We have confidence that the group of players that we have recruited can still see the club compete at the top end of the table,” he said.
“We won’t make any rash decisions off the back of results, any move would have to be fully analysed and be the right player, not only on the ice, but also off the ice.
“However we will make changes if we feel the need to, if the right players are available and we feel like it’s going to improve the team.
“Statistically speaking we’re not much worse off than last season, we’ve already picked up as many points in the Erhardt Conference [games against Belfast Giants, Cardiff Devils, Sheffield Steelers, Coventry Blaze and Nottingham Panthers] than we did in the whole of last season.
“The different this season is we are now in a much stronger Gardiner Conference. We’ve lost recently to Dundee, Edinburgh and Fife which in comparable fixture last season we came away with the wins.
“However, we remain undefeated on home ice and we were always aware that there was very little chance of dominating the conference so much for a second season running.”
This Saturday Belfast Giants come to town, and Chalmers added: “We’ve got a run of three big home games coming up which will bring us more inline having spent the month out of the Arena.
“Throughout the league right now, home teams are winning 90% of games, so more so than ever it’s important we get back on track over the coming weeks.”
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