Big Puck reports: TOWIC in the Essex Cup

Thanks to Pete and all at the Chieftains for this news update.

THE ONLY WAY IS CHELMSFORD IN THE ESSEX CUP FIRST LEG

9th December 2011

The Only Way is Chelmsford after Thursday evening's resounding defeat of Romford Raiders in the first leg of the Essex Cup at the Riverside ice rink. A 5-2 demolition job was carried out on a depleted Raiders team who started off brightly but then faded as the legs began to tire and the extra bodies on the Chieftains bench began to tell.

Former Chieftains forward Matt Turner scored after just 30 seconds of the game with a nice finish past Ben Clements. Danny Wright then blasted home later in the first period and the game was nicely poised at 1-1 going into the first break. Things began to heat up in the second period and some indiscipline from the Raiders culminated in a fight between Chieftains captain Dwayne "Dog" Newman and Shaun Wallis of the Raiders, with the Romford scrapper getting the upper hand in the bout. A bizarre incident then took place as JJ McGrath of the Raiders side then fired the puck at Clements while the two officials were sorting out the penalties for the fight and McGrath ended up losing the plot and was given his marching orders to leave the Raiders even shorter benched. A brace from the unassuming Alan Green took the Chelmsford side to a 3-1 lead heading into the final session.

Jakub Klima and Danny Hammond then netted a goal a piece in the third period as Chelmsford went 5-1 ahead, but then the gloves came off again this time with Michael Ranby and Tom Davis squaring off on the ice. Ranby took a decisive win in the fight, much to the delight of the impressive midweek crowd of Chelmsford fans. Romford player coach Danny Marshall took some of the gloss off the win with a late goal to bring it back to 5-2, but the Chieftains are well in the driving seat going into the second leg in Romford in the new year.

Alex Staples picked up another man of the match award after a fine display in defence for the Chieftains, while forward Tom Long took home the Karen Bloomfield Memorial Award for Player of the Month for November.