Redskins Undone By Chieftains!

After their comprehensive win over the MK Thunder last week, Chelmsford Chieftains knew that that result would mean nothing unless they could win their next game. Their oppenents the Streatham Redskins are well known for being a tricky team to beat and have taken points of the leading teams this season. Our IceMan Pete Lewis was there to report on the action.

Chieftains started the game like a house on fire as their forwards peppered Stefan Nubert in the Redskins net with a number of shots inside the first two minutes. Once the South Londoners got control of the puck they showed some good skills and were able to take the game to the Chieftains. The Chieftains defence was made to be alert and Alex Green made an excellent poke check on Louis Lockwood who was bearing down on Ben Clements in the Chieftains goal. It was Danny Hammond who put Cheiftains ahead just after 6 minutes when he struck a powerful shot from the blueline that Nubert stood no chance with. Sean Easton getting the assist on the goal.

Slovak forward Jerry Pavlus doubled the advantage for the Chieftains on twelve minutes when his shot trickled through Nubert's legs. Nubert's confidence had clearly dropped and up popped Ross Brears to put the hosts 3-0 up when Aaron Connolly's shot bounbed back off Nubert and Brears had the simple to task to put the puck into the empty net.

Sadly this was the last we saw of Brears as he was helped off the ice moments later with what looks like a badly twisted knee. The Redskins did get on the scoresheet with a powerplay goal 15:58 when Perry Richardson slotted the puck home. Minutes later and it was 3-2 when Louis Lockwood put the puck in the roof of the net from close range. So much for a comfortable lead!

It was almost half way through the game before the next goal went in and this time the Chieftains put a bit of daylight between them when Blaho Novak looped the puck over Nubert to make it 4-2. Just before the end of the period and it was back to 1 goal when Lockwood notched his second of the night with a controversial goal as the Redskins had more players on the ice than allowed, but none of the officials picked up on it. It was quite a shocking decision by the officials and it shocked the crowd in attendence who all picked up on the official's mistake.

The third and final period started with a bang as barley a minute had passed and the Redskins had tied it up at 4-4. Lockwood rounding of a fine team move by completing his hat-trick when he scored past Clements after breaking clear. Things began to get feisty on the ice with a cross-check on Connolly that went unpunished by the officials, so captain Richard Whiting took it upon himself to fire a big hit back at the Redskins seconds later in retaliation and flattened the South Londoner. As he was being led off the ice, other players were involved in a pushing and shoving match with various Redskins players, but things didn't spill over. Who needs the WWE?

Just over 10 mins remained in the game when the deadlock was broken again and once again it was the Chieftains who took the advantage. Man of the match Connolly got the puck in the middle of the rink and skated to just inside the Redskins zone and he fired the puck into the top corner past a stranded Nubert. Less than a minute later it was 6-4 when Easton looped the puck high over the neutral zone and Hammond skated onto the puck and took it in close and shot it past a dejected Nubert. Jerry Pavlus scored moments after to make it 7-4, finishing cooly after a good pass by BT Williams.

Frustrations were boiling up by now and Lockwood was again the centre of attention as he took a 10 minute misconduct penalty and in doing so killed off any hope of a comeback for the Redskins. The last piece of action was a minor scuffle on the final buzzer when BT Williams and Peter Molnar had words, but when offered more, Molnar skated away not wanting to mix it with the Chieftains tough guy.

After the game, Dean Birrell had this to say: "The ref tonight was awful. He let far too much go and called some silly things and when things were getting heated, he very nearly lost control of the game. Onto playing matters and we knew we wouldn't have it easy tonight and we had to work very hard to get the win. The Redskins have taken points off of the other 'big' teams and will be a banana skin in the run-in to the playoffs and will certainly get a few more results and take some big scalps.

"I am disappointed that it looks like Ross Brears won't be training at least for the next week. I'm hoping he won't be missing heading into next Sunday's tough and physical game against Cardiff at the Riverside. We are going in as underdogs, but we're one of the few times to go to their place and get points, so we know we can take points off them. They still have aspirations for the title and will be wanting to beat us. Of course though, we're looking to cement our place in the groupings for the playoffs and we're not going to want to be bullied or pushed around in front of our own fans. It's going to be tough, but I believe the boys can do it and have the capability to win it".

We're more from Pete next week, where he'll be reporting on what we hope is a memorable Chieftians win over Cardiff Devils. Fingers crossed.