Spirited Hornets Hold Chieftains

After last week’s draw at league leaders and rivals the Invicta Dynamo’s, the Chieftains last Saturday travelled to Bracknell to face the Hornets. It was a disappointing result for the Chieftains who lost to the hosts, though that was because they were without several big names including Darren Brown, Andy Moffat and Adam Copland to name a few.

As always SportTrades Ice Man Pete Lewis was there and here’s his report of the game:
The Hornets struck first just 45 seconds into the game when Ben Duggan slotted into the free net, having been left unmarked at the back post. The game continued to be back and forth with both net minders busy.

Early in the second period and the Chieftains were back on level terms when Blaho Novak put the puck in the net after a rifle of a shot from Staples rebounded off Wride and fell at Danny Hammond’s stick and he calmly squared it to Novak to slot home.

Things got a bit heated a few minutes later when Wride spilled a shot so Aaron Connolly went in to try and poke the puck into the net, however he was set upon by Ovenden and Graham Bellamy and was rescued by James Ayling and Ross Brears who came in to even the numbers up as other Hornets players had arrived to get involved in the scuffle. Once more Decaux confused the away fans as he sent the main protagonists to the box for 2 mins each roughing.

Early in the third and the Hornets did take the lead when Ben Johnson and Hopkins combined to bundle the puck past Clements while Connolly was sitting a harsh holding the stick penalty. 67 seconds later and the game was tied again at 2-2 when Brears scored a beauty of a goal when he skated from centre ice and fired it high and into the corner past Wride.

Decaux sent Sean Easton to the penalty box on 45:47 for a hooking call, and it meant the Chieftains would have to continue on the penalty kill and unfortunately they couldn’t hold out for all of it and with just 4 seconds to go Tom Avery managed to get the puck past Clements, on a cruel deflection from Garrett’s skate, and take the lead for the Hornets. Alex Barker then made it 4-2 at 55:01 to put the game beyond doubt with a nice finish from the middle of the Chieftains zone that fired past Clements.

After the game Dean Birrell commented “I am a bit disappointed with things tonight, but more frustrated than anything. 3 power play goals tells it’s own story, especially with one or two strange calls late on that cost us goals. We knew we would be up against it whenever we played Bracknell, but the late change in the schedule that caused us to be short on numbers didn’t help. I am pleased with how the youngsters performed though and they did what I asked of them, so there are some positives to take from the game”.

Sadly for the Chieftains and Birrell they couldn’t fully bounce back in their very next league game after the Bracknell defeat, drawing 2-2 againgst Streatham Redskins. For more on the Chieftains follow them on their website @ http://www.chelmsfordchieftains.co.uk/. The Peterborough Islanders face the Chieftains next on the ice at the Riverside on the 27th. Everyone at SportTrades is hoping that Santa will deliever them a win of course!