Chieftains Overcome Thunder To Win

As ever last weekend saw SportTrades's Iceman Pete Lewis at the Ice Hockey. He was there to see the Chelmsford Chieftains face off againgst the MK Thunder ice hockey game. There were also apperances from 2 wrestlers from LDN wrestling, the Wrestling Compnay that the Chieftains have linked up within the last month.

The game itself began in the way games against Milton Keynes normally do and they were tough to break down, but once the Chieftains broke through their lines it was only thanks to Mark Woolf having a blinder in the MK net that kept the score down. Danny Hammond broke the deadlock at 5:27 of the first period with a fairly simple tap in at the back post. Jerry Pavlus then scored an excellent goal as he went through the MK defence and slotted the puck high into the top corner all thanks to an excellent pass from man of the match Danny Wright.

A couple of moments later it was 3-0 when a blue line shot from Sean Easton looped in over Woolf's shoulder while the Chieftains had a man advantage. MK then pulled a goal back six minutes before the end of the period, when Jamie Holland's shot pinged in off the post and it was a 3-1 lead going into the first break.

As a special promotion, in association with LDN wrestling, Travis (adorned in a Chieftains shirt, much to the home crowd's delight) came onto the ice to talk to the fans but was rudely interrupted by Steve Preston, sporting an MK Thunder shirt. Things quickly heated up and a pushing and shoving match ensued between the two, with only Frizzy on hand to break them up, but he too took a few pushes from Preston to really get the crowd wound up.

The second period began with an early goal to the Thunder as Harrison Goode finished off a nice move from Ross Horsley. Blaho Novak quickly hit back for the Chieftains, restoring their 2 goal advantage with thanks to his linemates Hammond and Pavlus. The period was a bit back and forth, but the Chieftains began to take further advantage, but Woolf was playing an outstanding game and continued to deny the Chieftains.

Into the third period and things were still going the Chieftains way, but MK were finding ways back into the game and Ben Clements was called upon more times than perhaps he would have liked to pull off some nice saves. Back down the other end and the usual agitation tactics of Novak and Ross Brears were paying off as the MK defence began to get a bit hot under the collar and started to take some silly penalties, including a 2+10 minute penalty to Bernie Bradford for a check from behind. Paul Jamieson and Ross Brears had words and things were getting close to boiling point now, but referee Rene Ross kept control of things and it was the Chieftains who rounded out the scoring with 20 seconds left with a second goal to Hammond, assisted by Pavlus. Final score 5-2 Chieftains.

The man of the match awards were presented by Travis (The reigning LDN Wrestling Champion) and the fans were encouraged again to attend the LDN wrestling event at the Riverside on the 30th of January. Man of the match for the Chieftains was Richard Whiting, who as you can see in the picture was delighted to pick up his award.

Speaking after the game Dean Birrell, head coach of the Chieftains said "I wouldn't say tonight we were unconvincing in our victory, but there were some times out there I felt frustrated by our performance. We created lots of chances and outshot them, but we must start the majority of our chances".

Birrell continued in the same vein as he did earlier in the week with praise for GB Under-18 call ups in James Ayling and Aaron Connolly on the reserve list "It's fantastic for those boys, it's not only this year but we've got some other lads coming on and with the ice time they are getting with the Warriors now I wouldn't have thought it would be too long before the GB selectors are in touch with those lads too. On top of that in the junior system there are some special talents coming on and it really is testament to development they receive in the Chelmsford system".

Speaking of the Warriors, they didn't have as good a weekend as the Chieftains. Invicta Mustangs were too much for the Chelmsford's second string side winning 3-1 at the Ice Bowl in Gillingham. Dan Raven was on target for the Warriors with Andy Brummitt grabbing the man of the match award, after several key saves stopped the hosts winning by more.