History was made at Braehead Arena on Friday [14 November], as referee Paval Halas announced the outcome of a coach’s challenge to the crowd for the first time in the Elite League.
The trial was introduced to improve transparency around refereeing decisions, providing greater clarity around key decisions to in-arena spectators.
And it was used for the first time as the Glasgow Clan beat the Cardiff Devils 3-2 in a back-and-forth regular-season contest.
Deven Sideroff, Glasgow Clan (Image: Al Goold)
With the scoreline goalless, Jason Fram weaved his way through the offensive zone and tucked the puck through Ben Bowns from close range.
Although referees Andy Dalton and Halas awarded the goal on the ice, Devils head coach Paul Thompson elected to use his coach’s challenge on the play.
After review, Halas announced to the crowd that the call on the ice had been upheld, with Farm firing Glasgow to a 1-0 lead in the 23rd minute.
“Glasgow player does not initiate contact with the goalkeeper: he is pushed into the goalie’s [crease] by a Cardiff player,” the Czech official explained.
“Therefore, we have a good goal.”
Deven Sideroff doubled Glasgow’s advantage less than two minutes later, before Joey Martin responded on the powerplay to send the game into its second intermission with the scoreline poised at 2-1.
Brett Neumann converted on the powerplay to hand the Clan a 3-1 lead with 15 minutes remaining, with Brett Perlini finding twine on 58:04 to restore the game’s one-goal status.
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