UPCOMING HOME GAME: It’s the first game of 2019 at home when we welcome fellow Gardiner Conference rivals the Dundee Stars to Braehead Arena THIS SATURDAY (7.00pm face-off). Tickets available online HERE, by calling the ticket hotline 0844 499 1700 or at the Braehead box office (OPENING TIMES).

This year the annual Air the Bear event where the Glasgow Clan Ice Hockey team supporters throw new toys on to the ice for local charities such as the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Glasgow will also benefit the Malaria Alert Centre in Blantyre, Malawi. The club has hooked up with the Institute of Infection Immunity and inflammation, Wellcome Centre for Molecular Parasitology, (WCMP) and University of Glasgow to ship toys to give to children waking up from a malaria coma in Blantyre, Malawi.

Both these university depts have close research links with Malawi and the University has many researchers and scientists continuing the very fruitful collaboration that Scotland has had with Malawi stretching back as far as Dr David Livingstone. Scientists at the University when travelling to Malawi use their baggage allowance to take donations of surplus medical supplies and equipment to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Blantyre, Malawi. The next trip will include a very special delivery of toys directly from the Glasgow Clan and their very generous fans.

Gareth Chalmers, Chief Operating Officer at the Glasgow Clan Ice Hockey team said: “We were recently approached by Clan fan Michael Rennie regarding supporting the Malaria Alert Centre with soft toys from our annual Air the Bear event. As it’s for a very worthwhile cause we had no hesitation in agreeing to support this. We’d once again like to thank the whole Purple Army for their generosity.”

Prof Andy Waters, Director WCMP said: “We have been providing toys for these children in Malawi for some time now, usually pre-used and donated by colleagues and their friends. It is difficult to overstate how appreciated the toys are by the children and their families who have just come through the most stressful of circumstances. The fantastic generosity of the Glasgow Clan Ice Hockey team will ensure that more Blantyre children will be comforted as they pull through a life-threatening illness due to the skill and dedication of the staff at QEH.”