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Paisley Pirates Updates ABERDEEN LYNX 2 PAISLEY PIRATES 5

ABERDEEN LYNX 2 PAISLEY PIRATES 5

Pirates travelled north to the Lynx Arena and recorded a notable win as they put the home side to the sword, securing an excellent victory in front of a capacity crowd.

The visitors were obliged to play off early penalties but in fact it was during one of those periods of play, with Thorp sitting out a Holding call, that they broke with Abercrombie assisting Walker to score the opening goal while they were at a numerical disadvantage. While that goal proved to be the only one of the period, Pirates did in fact keep Lynx netminder Chalmers busy throughout the session, while Russell in the visiting net had little to do by comparison, and thus the visitors headed to the changing rooms holding a narrow 1-0 advantage at the break.

Aberdeen were penalised within a minute of the restart and found themselves two behind as Pirates made full use of the powerplay to double their lead, Walker netting his second of the game. The hosts saw a little more of the puck than they had done in the first session and pulled a goal back in the 29th minute through Durkacz, but Walker restored his side’s two goal lead with 5 minutes of the session remaining with an unassisted goal, making it a straight hat trick for the Pirates’ player/coach. With no further scoring, the buzzer sounded for the end of the session with the visitors holding a handy 3-1 advantage.

Pirates continued to have the bulk of play in the final session but they were shocked when Lynx reduced the deficit to one through Thomson in the 46th minute. The home side’s joy was short lived, however, as within two minutes they were penalised and Pirates scored immediately through Henderson to lead 4-2. Any remaining doubts about the destiny of the two league points were doused in the final five minutes, with the visitors on the powerplay again, as Walker netted his own fourth, and his team’s fifth, to silence the home fans and send the visiting supporters homeward with smiles on their faces.

Pirates Player/Coach, Adam Walker, commented after the game, “I thought we played a really solid road game last night. It’s always difficult to get the two points in Aberdeen but to heavily outshoot them and keep them to the outside for most of the game is a credit to our team. Everyone played their part and kept disciplined and that made. the difference.”

Pirates return to home ice this Saturday after a 3 week absence to face Solway Stingrays (face off 6.30pm)

PAISLEY PIRATES-PREVIEW

Paisley Pirates are back in action at Braehead Arena this Saturday as they welcome the Solway Stingrays to the venue for what will be their first home fixture in the Scottish National League for a few weeks. The club has recorded two excellent wins on the road over the last fortnight and will be looking to keep that good form going on home ice, particularly after beating Aberdeen 5-2 at a venue which has been somewhat problematic in recent years.

Head Coach Ian Turley commented, “It was very good collective performance from everyone. The team’s attitude and approach to the game was excellent and all the boys contributed to the win whether they played a lot of minutes or not.”

Pirates hope to continue their run in front of a big crowd on Saturday, as they look to cement a place in the top four ahead of playoff season, which commences in a few weeks’ time, and which would see them gain one of the seeded places, while looking to see the return of a few players who have been missing for various reasons in recent weeks as they head into the latter stages of the season.

Face off against the Stingrays is at 6.30pm.

13/02/2019/by Brian McGuire

Our casting team are currently looking for applicants for Series 2 of our brand new car-based gameshow, Test Drive.

The first series is due to air on BBC Scotland (the new channel) from February 25^th at 7pm.

We’re looking for fun, opinionated and outgoing teams of two – from loved up couples, bickering family members, best pals to colleagues for our exciting new car-based gameshow. For a chance to go on a road-trip across Scotland’s most amazing landscapes and potentially win a cash prize en-route, applicants must be available for one full day’s filming between 25^th March & 5^th April 2019 (excluding weekend).

Apply directly to TestDrive@bandicoot.tv (all applicants must be legal residents of the UK and currently living in Scotland | Drivers must be 21+ and have held a valid licence for at least 1 year)

12/02/2019/by Brian McGuire

Schoolkids were buzzing with excitement when they got up close to some giant bugs.

The youngsters from Wallace Primary School, in Elderslie visited intu Braehead to see a display of larger-than-life models of insects, including honeybees, ladybirds and grasshoppers in the shopping centre.

The Primary 3 pupils had taken part in a competition to draw their own insects and the winner, seven-year-old Max Belshaw will have his brightly-coloured bug made into a model for the school to keep. Max also won a £25 intu Gift Card.

More than 40 pupils from Wallace Primary visited Braehead to see the giant bugs and also take part in wildlife-related activities.

The Big Bugs On Tour was at intu Braehead during January before continuing a nationwide series of visits to other intu shopping centres.

The intu Big Bugs On Tour initiative is backed by naturalist Chris Packham and it aims to reconnect kids and adults to nature following a report that shows children are now better at identifying Pokemon characters than British wildlife.

Wallace Primary teacher, Lynn Stuart said: “The children loved taking part in the competition to design their own insects and they were very creative.”

Lydia Brown, intu Braehead’s community development manager said: “Our Big Bugs were certainly an attraction to visitors to the mall. Lots of people were taking photographs of youngsters beside the giant models of the insects.

“The pupils from Wallace Primary did a fantastic job designing their own insects and well done to Max for being chosen as the winner.”

Log on to www.intu.co.uk/bigbugs for more information on the Big Bugs Tour.

07/02/2019/by Brian McGuire

SOLWAY SHARKS 0 PAISLEY PIRATES 13

Pirates made short work of their hosts in a one sided affair played at the Dumfries Ice Bowl on Sunday night.

The visitors were ahead with only 31 seconds on the clock as Thorp linked with Henderson and Abercrombie to give his side a lead which they never lost, and Pirates continued to have all the pressure as they doubled their lead after 9 minutes through McLaughlin. There was only the briefest of respites for the home side until the 13th minute when Pirates scored four goals in four minutes through Johnston, Sarginson, Abercrombie and Dobson and, with two periods remaining, the game was over at 6-0 for the visitors after only one session of play, netminder Meechan being a virtual spectator, turning away only three shots while Carmichael in the home goal was given a breather after facing no fewer than 20 attempts on goal.

Solway had a slightly quieter time of it in the middle session, with Morris replacing Carmichael in the home goal, and it wasn’t until just after the halfway point that Pirates took their score to seven through Sarginson’s second goal of the evening, and with Donaghy having replaced Meechan at the away end. It looked as if the score might remain at seven to the end of the session, but with less than half a minute remaining up popped Abercrombie to net his second, and his team’s eighth, with seconds left.

In the final session, Pirates restricted themselves to scoring in bursts, Walker and Wallace netting either side of the 45th minute to take the scoring into double figures, the goals from Huber and a rare marker from Wilson rounding off the dozen in less than sixty seconds at the 50th minute. A final hat trick goal for Abercrombie two minutes later made it a very unlucky 13th goal conceded by the home side, and the easiest of victories for Pirates, a 66 shots to 12 margin telling its own story.

Pirates are on the road again this weekend, heading to the other end of the country as they take on a difficult looking fixture .in Aberdeen

PAISLEY PIRATES-PREVIEW

Fresh on the heels of their thumping 13-0 win in Dumfries against Solway last Sunday, Paisley Pirates head in the other direction this Saturday as they travel to Aberdeen for a difficult looking tie against the local Lynx. Pirates have not had the best of records at the venue in the last few years and will be looking to build upon a confidence boosting result when they go to the north east.

Coach Adam Walker said, “The team played well last time out and it was good for our guys to inject some confidence into the team and give some guys a chance to step up and claim a place in the line up. Scoring throughout the team is always a good thing so we’ll take that into Saturday’s game and hopefully put in a good performance in Aberdeen.”

Pirates are still chasing one of the top four places in the league to guarantee themselves a seeded berth in the end of season play offs, the winning of which has so far eluded the club, so every point gathered between now and the end of the season is critical if they wish to progress to the weekend tournament in early Spring in Dundee.

06/02/2019/by Brian McGuire

SCOTLAND’S top retail and leisure destination, intu Braehead has welcomed the opening of new stores creating more than 30 jobs.

Management has announced two new tenants have taken units and an existing store is tripling its retail space.

The UK’s largest independent toy retailer, The Entertainer has opened in the upper mall having taken up a unit of more than 5600 square feet bringing work for 12 new staff.

This was followed by cake, crepe and dessert outlet, The Little Dessert Shop opening a 1,600 square feet store in the adjacent Soar at intu Braehead leisure complex, which already hosts Scotland’s only indoor real snow ski slope, a multi-screen cinema, ten-pin bowling, an adventure climbing facility, the UK’s tallest indoor helix slide along with various bars and restaurants and retail outlets.

The new store will be the first Little Dessert Shop in Scotland and it has meant 20 new jobs have been created.

Fashion trainers and apparel retailer Footasylum are currently fitting out a new unit in the upper mall of the shopping centre, which will see them operating out of a 10,000 square feet unit three times the size of their present store.

Operators cite intu Braehead’s high profile and its “remarkable” catchment as reasons for opening stores there.

And intu Braehead was recently ranked as Scotland’s top shopping centre by GobalData, who measured the requirements and data from both tenants and shoppers to give a comprehensive review of the country’s shopping malls.

Donnie Macdonald, from the Little Dessert Shop said: ”The mix of retail, dining and entertainment venues at intu Braehead make it the largest and most visited shopping centre in Scotland.

“While I was looking for premises in which to open the country’s First Little Dessert Shop, availability of a space in Soar at intu Braehead presented itself as a total no-brainer.

“The centre enjoys a high profile throughout Scotland and given its enduring draw as a shopping destination, it clearly ranks high not just on local people’s radar, but also draws large numbers of tourists and visitors.

“There is literally no better location for pretty much any kind of food, shopping or leisure pursuit, given Soar at intu Braehead’s already huge popularity, which continues to be illustrated by its remarkable catchment.”

Andrew Milner-Walker, head of property at The Entertainer comments, “We are pleased to open another store at intu Braehead following the success we’ve experienced at other intu centres across the UK.

“With The Entertainer stores in a range of intu locations including Lakeside and Derby, it was a natural move for us to open in one of Scotland’s largest shopping centres.”

Peter Beagley, regional centre director with responsibility for intu Braehead said: “The team here at intu Braehead is determined to create the conditions that give retailers the best chance of successful trading.

“Our aim is to drive footfall to intu Braehead, continue to be Scotland’s number one retail and leisure destination and give people a much wider and enjoyable experience than just going to the shops when they visit us.

“Our unique mix of leisure and retail along with our creative and innovative marketing strategy certainly seems to be working for us and our retail partners.”

05/02/2019/by Brian McGuire

Blog, Braehead, Events, Glasgow, Newsletter, Paisley, Paisley Pirates, Paisley Visitor Attractions, People from Paisley, Press Release, Renfrew, Renfrewshire, renfrewshire events

PAISLEY PIRATES 9 DUNDEE COMETS 8

(AGG 12-12-Comets win on penalties)

Pirates and Comets served up an epic SEVENTEEN goal thriller, which saw the home side edge through on the night-but the home side suffered the heartbreak of going out of the Scottish Cup to the holders on penalty shots, after the teams finished level over the two legs.

The visitors were first to score through McNicoll after only a minute to put them two ahead on aggregate after their 4-3 first leg win last week, but Pirates found their feet quickly as first Walker, linking up with Divok, and then Andreucci, put the hosts ahead on the night with just after five minutes played. Chances continued to go abegging at both ends and Comets were level after 15 minutes as Edmonds beat Russell to tie it up at 2-2. The scoring for the session wasn’t finished, however, and with Pirates on the powerplay they took advantage of the extra player to net through Dobson with two minutes remaining in the period to make it 3-2 at the break.

The glut of scoring was actually stepped up in the middle session as with Pirates again on the powerplay they netted their fourth through Walker inside four minutes of the restart, going nap two minutes later through Henderson, but McLuskey was quick to pull the visitors back into it with a goal before the halfway point for 5-3. Pirates hit a purple patch soon after, netting three times through Guy, Divok and Walker, the latter netting his hat trick, to go to 8-3, but Comets refused to lie down and netted two powerplay goals through Edmonds and McLuskey in the space of 50 seconds to make it 8-5 on the night, Pirates two ahead on aggregate. With time in the period running out, and with players and spectators alike trying to catch their collective breath, Walker stepped in for his fourth goal of the night and send the teams to the dressing rooms with Pirates an unlikely 9-5 ahead, and 12-9 on aggregate.

With the home side looking good with a three goal aggregate cushion they seemed content to hold what they had in the final session, and Comets had most of the play without putting Russell under great pressure in the early part of the period. However, with less than six minutes remaining, the roof fell in on the home side as while on the powerplay they were caught on the hop as McLuskey broke and sent in a shot which appeared to squeeze beneath Russell, and the aggregate lead was down to two. Worse was to follow, as Dundee repeated the shorthanded move two minutes later and this time it was Dolan squeezing the puck past Russell to cut the lead to two on the night and one on aggregate. Nerves clearly showing on the ice and in the stands and Comets continued to have the momentum, and there were under 90 seconds remaining when McGiffen tied the aggregate scoreb at 12-12 to take the game into penalty shots.

Dundee scored with their first penalty, while Walker’s shot for Pirates was parried by Michie to put his side ahead. Edmunds put the visitors ahead at 2-0 in the shoot out, but Divok pulled it back to 2-1. Russell knocked away Dolan’s third penalty, but with Henderson needing to score for the home side to take it into sudden death, his shot was saved by Michie and Pirates were out in a game where they had comfortable advantages at several junctures on the night, but just couldn’t put the Comets away.

Player/coach Adam Walker admitted to being “bitterly disappointed” after the game. He said, “We did enough to win the tie but we didn’t close it out. We will take a lot from the game and while we’re happy to score nine goals we can’t expect to go far when we concede eight.”

Pirates now face another tough home game on Saturday when they go head to head with unbeaten Murrayfield Racers at Braehead Braehead (face off 6.30pm).

—

PAISLEY PIRATES-PREVIEW

Paisley Pirates face another in a series of tough tests this coming Saturday at Braehead Arena as they take on the high flying Murrayfield Racers who are so far unbeaten in the Scottish National League, but it’s a challenge which Head Coach Ian Turley is looking forward to.

“We’re coming off the back of a disappointing cup tie against Dundee Comets where we won the home leg but lost the tie on penalty shots,” he said. “Maybe it was a little lack of experience which we lacked, but we’ve had three very tight games in recent weeks, two against the Comets, and one against the Racers a couple of weeks ago, and we’ve shown we can compete with these teams. We scored 9 goals against the Comets which suggests that offensively we’re ok, but I’m expecting another tough game against the Racers. It was a 4-3 loss to them when we played them in Edinburgh in what was a good game in front of a good crowd so we’re hoping that the Racers’ fans will maybe travel in numbers to see what should be another good advert for the SNL. If you compare where we were at the start of the season to where we are now the difference on our play is a significant one and it’s showing in our performances.”

“If we stick to what we need to do for the entire 60 minutes I believe we will be ok and I’m certainly expecting fans to get full value for their admission fee as they did last weekend.

Murrayfield have a top line up featuring a number of players with Elite League experience, such as one time Edinburgh Capitals [layer/coach Martin Cingel, and it’s sure to be another cracker in a match which faces off on SATURDAY at 6.30pm.

24/01/2019/by Brian McGuire

OLYMPIC curler Eve Muirhead is aiming to sweep to victory in a fun new sport – HUMAN CURLING!

Eve had a go at human curling – or go-nutting as it’s sometimes called – on the ice at intu Braehead and reckons the wacky spin-off from real curling could catch on.

The 28-year-old has won Olympic, World and European medals in a successful curling career.

Eve couldn’t wait to try human curling and quickly mastered the technique of launching herself up the ice on top of an inflatable snow tube aiming for the house, or target as you would with a real curling stone.

Eve is the Curling Ambassador at the curling rink at intu Braehead and her human curling session helped launch the leisure destination’s Get Active winter campaign.

There’s a whole range of fun activities including snowboarding, ski-ing, sledging, trampolining, aerial assault course in Soar at intu Braehead along with ice skating in The Arena along with curling in the curling rink.

Eve said: “I’ve never tried human curling before, but it was really a lot of fun.

“It’s almost as much fun as a real game of curling! Everyone should come along to intu Braehead to get active and try out all the different activities there.”

David Lyon, marketing manager for intu Braehead said: “This is the time of year people decide to get active and we’ve plenty for them to do here with lots of exciting activities.

“Eve was trying out the human curling for a bit of fun, but if there are enough people who want to be human curlers, we’ll certainly aim at putting on special sessions for them.”

People who fancy a go at human curling should email braehead.curling@intu.co.uk .

13/01/2019/by Brian McGuire

Blog, Braehead, Events, Glasgow, Newsletter, Paisley, Paisley Events, Paisley Photographs, Paisley Pirates, Paisley Visitor Attractions, People from Paisley, Press Release, Renfrew, Renfrewshire, Renfrewshire Council

Paisley Pirates news and reviews

Paisley Pirates take a break from league action this weekend, but the task facing them could
hardly be more difficult, as they travel to Dundee this Sunday to take on the local Comets in
the first round (first leg) of the Scottish Cup, a competition which has seen the two clubs
meet in the final in the past two seasons, the Tayside club coming out as victors on both
occasions.

Pirates lost narrowly by four goals to three against highly fancied Murrayfield Racers last
Sunday in Edinburgh, and will need to put in a similar level of performance if they hope to
overcome a Comets side who beat them heavily in the league at Braehead Arena earlier in
the season, their only home reverse to date.
Head Coach Ian Turley commented, “We enter different territory this weekend with Scottish
Cup action to look forward to, and with the tie being over two legs a lot can happen during
the six periods which will be played. I guess this tie is a bit special in that both teams have
met in the final in the past two seasons, but only one team can make it through this time
around.”
The tie will take place at Dundee Ice Arena, facing off at 7.30pm, whole the second leg will
go ahead at Braehead Arena the following Sunday, 20 January, with a 5.00pm start, and
Pirates will be looking to bring the tie back to Renfrewshire with everything still to play for.

MURRAYFIELD RACERS 4 PAISLEY PIRATES 3

Pirates travelled to Edinburgh missing several key players but nevertheless contributed fully
to a thriller, before eventually going down by the odd goal in seven to a Racers side laden
with players with Elite League experience..
The home side got off to the better start and were a goal ahead before the five minute mark
as Gautschi netted short handed. Pirates recovered from this setback and were level after
their next powerplay opportunity two minutes later as Abercrombie combined with Guy to
beat McGill and score against his former side. With chances coming up at both ends it was
the hosts who went ahead after thirteen minutes and it was Gautschi again, with his second
goal of the night, who beat Russell to put Racers ahead on the powerplay. With no further
scoring in the session the sides headed for the dressing rooms with Murrayfield holding a
narrow 2-1 advantage after a tight 20 minutes.
Play continued as before in the middle period and while Racers had the early pressure, it
was in fact Pirates who equalised in the 26 th minute with an unassisted goal from Mikey
Dobson. This time Racers came back strongly and took the lead for the third time four
minutes later through Boyd. Once again, both sides had opportunities to alter the scoreline,
but with the respective goals remining intact, Racers hung on to their narrow one goal
advantage to lead at 3-2.
Pirates came out for the final session looking for a third equaliser and they got it with less
than two minutes on the clock, as Abercrombie combined with Guy once more for the former
Racer to net his second of the night and tie the scores at 3-3. The game continued to ebb
and flow at both ends of the ice, but just before the halfway point in the period it was that
man Gautschi who completed his hat trick with what proved to be the game winning goal,
breaking the hearts of the visitors who had put in a sterling performance, only to come away
with nothing at the end of the day.

Pirates will be pleased with their gutsy performance, if not the final outcome, and will be
looking to carry that form into this Saturday’s Scottish Cup first round, first leg tie away to
Dundee Comets in a repeat of last year’s final. The match faces off at 7.30pm, with the
second leg taking place at Braehead Arena on Sunday, 20 January (face off 5.00pm).

12/01/2019/by Brian McGuire

For the month of January we are offering a 25% off discount to new members who join the Chamber.

Kick start 2019 by joining Renfrewshire’s largest business network and take advantage of the benefits of membership.

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We run various events throughout the year. Our monthly networking lunches held at local hotels are attended by 50-70 delegates from businesses based in Renfrewshire and the surrounding areas. New members receive a free place at one of these lunches on joining.
Other events include: a New Members Event, Pitch and Roll Networking, HR Forum, our annual B2B Event in May and Business awards… the ROCCO’s.

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Marketing
Members can tap in to our marketing channels for free. Please send us any press releases or editorial to be featured on our website. Anything featured on our website will also be sent out to members in our eNews – sent every 2-3weeks. Our quarterly publication, Business Matters, is circulated to members and is distributed to business centres, coffee shops, council offices and hotels in the Renfrewshire. New members receive a free quarter page of editorial.

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10/01/2019/by Brian McGuire

Blog, Braehead, Events, Glasgow, Newsletter, Paisley, Paisley Events, Paisley Pirates, People from Paisley, Press Release, Renfrew, Renfrewshire, renfrewshire events

PAISLEY PIRATES 4 – NORTH AYRSHIRE WILD 2

Paisley Pirates rounded off the first half of their season with a tense 4-2 win in their final game before the Christmas break.

They got off to the best possible start in the second minute when, on the powerplay, defender Euan McLaughlin broke forward to take a pass from Ryan Sarginson and fired an unstoppable shot past Beveridge in the visitors’ goal to give his side the lead. It got even better for the home team as just over a minute later, Henderson latched on to the puck, assisted by Divok, to double their lead and give the hosts a handy advantage.

Wild came more into the game after their early double shock and, while they had more of the play, they were reliant on Beveridge to keep them in the game and he did so with a string of fine saves. Pirates did have the puck in the net after 17 minutes, but the “goal” was wiped out as there was an attacker in Beveridge’s area.

The visitors came out firing in the second session and were back in the game within 70 seconds. They took advantage of a powerplay opportunity through ex-Pirate Scott Cowan who scored a wraparound goal to pull the deficit back to one, and for the next few minutes a tension crept into the game before Walker fired a top shelf effort beyond Beveridge to restore the two goal advantage at 3-1. However, with Wild again on the powerplay within seconds it was that man Cowan once more who pulled the score back to a one goal difference, and the Wild player/coach wasn’t slow to show his delight at netting a second marker. The match was now ebbing and flowing at either end and within four minutes Henderson had scored his own second, and his team’s fourth goal, to stretch the scoreline to 4-2, and with no further scoring in the session Pirates saw out the period in somewhat nervy fashion.

While Pirates had the best of the openings in the final session, they just couldn’t put the Wild away, in spite of having several gilt edged chances to score the killer fifth goal, and the visitors came close on several occasions to pulling the scoreline back once again, with the tension mounting as the period progressed. With the match proceeding into the final ten minutes, Pirates fell foul of referee Emerson on three occasions, and they had to withstand periods of sustained pressure as they defended powerplays, the last one being almost a minute of playing off a five on three disadvantage, with the home fans holding their collective breath as play edged towards the final buzzer, a sound which was greeted with some relief.

Head Coach Ian Turley said after the game, “ Despite having a number of players unavailable through injury and illness I thought we started really well. I felt it was a game we were always in control of and we really should have been more clinical in front of the net as we created a number of high scoring chances but couldn’t execute them. Overall we are happy with the two points and have set ourselves up going into January when we will face quality opposition in the Racers.”

Pirates now have a two week festive break before their next match, a trip to Edinburgh to take on Murrayfield Racers on Sunday 6 January.

28/12/2018/by Brian McGuire