Chieftains Win Overshadowed By Injury

After their 8-5 defeat away to the Invicta Dynamos, the Chelmsford Chieftains needed to bounce back and grab a win over the Haringey Greyhounds. That was achieved by Dean Birrell's men, but nobody will have been pleased by the conclusion of the game, which was far more important than just sport.

As ever The 'Ice Man' Pete Lewis reports on the action for us, on the sport that if the weather continues as it is at the moment could very well could be all the rage in schools and parks up and down the country.

The Chieftains dominated this game right from the start, scoring three times in the first period. Goals from Danny Hammond, Ross Brears and a remarkable finish from Sean Easton (Pictured) from the halfway line which went past Haringey netminder James Tipple, which set the tone for the rest of the game. The second period continued in the same vein with Brears getting his second of the game and then Blaho Novak, Rich Whiting, Alex Green and Jerry Pavlus all scoring to give the Chieftains a convincing 8-0 lead going into the second break.

Ben Clements in the Chieftains net had barely been tested up until this point, having only faced around 12 shots in 2 periods, but when called upon he pulled off some solid saves and along with Brears, Green and James Ayling, he was in contention for the man of the match award. At the other end Tipple had been subjected to a staggering 40 shots, emphasising the sheer dominance of the Chieftains over their north London rivals. The Greyhounds decided to change goalies at the end of the period and changed Tipple for Laura Saunders.

Saunders had only been on the ice for just over 2 minutes when a Pavlus shot went just wide and as she turned to see where it had gone she was caught 100% accidentally by Hammond and she went down with a suspected spinal injury. Play was stopped immediately and an ambulance called and after she was treated on the ice for around 20minutes the officials took the correct decision to award the game as 8-0 to the Chieftains and end the game early. Laura left the ice in a conscious state, but strapped to a stretcher with her head and neck held in place.

SportTrades would like to send their best wishes to Laura, her family and the Haringey organisation and hope for a full and speedy recovery. A post on the Chieftains forum from a member of the Haringey management has stated that Laura has been released from hospital this evening with tissue damage only and looks like she will be fine.

Women players are allowed to play in the English National Ice Hockey Leagues, but Laura is one of only five female players that are playing this season. The other four for anyone wanting to know are Robyn Maby, Ruth Cattel and Angela Taylor who play for the Lea Valley Lions, who are in division 2, and Laura Price who plays for the Streatham Redskins. An incredible fact is that Taylor, the captain of the Great Britian Ladies team scored FIVE goals on her debut for the Lions against the Streatham Bruins this season.

In other Chelmsford related news, the Warriors won 5-2 at Romford Fury after a fine performance. Warriors scored early on and romped into a 4-0 lead before being pegged back late by the hosts to 4-2 in the final period. There was to be no nervous finale as Sean Martin sealed the win and send the home fans trudging sadly out of the Arena at the end of the game.