CHELMSFORD, UK – The Streatham Redskins had the best of the early play in this difficult game this past Saturday and jumped to a 2-0 lead, but the Chieftains hit back through Blaho Novak and then James Ayling to tie it at 2-2. A meleé ended with Redskin Fred Carnegy thrown out for being 3rd man into a ‘fight’ and Sean Easton and BT Williams sat penalties for the Chieftains. Late in the game Easton would find himself first in the showers after being given a second 10minute penalty and in turn a game misconduct penalty. Back to the scoring and a defensive error from the Chieftains allowed the Redskins to go ahead again and the High Road crowd believed they could pick up a shock win, but that was before the master of late goals Canadian Kyle Jones stepped up and tied the game up late on and round out the game 3-3.
Meanwhile back in Essex, the Chieftains second side the Warriors took apart the Bristol Pitbulls ‘B’ side in a 9-4 demolition. Former Chieftains fan-favourite Jerry Pavlus notched a hat-trick on his debut for the Warriors in a game that was overshadowed by a nasty injury to Pitbulls player Luke Curtis who took a puck to the face and required over 25 stitches to a sickening cut that resulted in the first period finishing early due to a pool of blood on the ice. The latest news is that he has been stitched up and returned home and will be out for a few weeks while his injury heals. All at Chelmsford and Pro Hockey News have sent their best wishes to Luke for a full and speedy recovery. One rather amusing moment from the game was seeing Pro Hockey News’s Finnish correspondent Janne Virtanen missing not one, but 2 great chances to score including a close range almost empty net effort…
Onto Sunday and the Chieftains heeded coach Dean Birrell’s words about arresting the slump before it set in with a demolition of MK Thunder, orchestrated by the Chieftains youngsters Ross Brears, Novak and Aaron Connolly. Brears took home the man of the match award with 2 goals, while Connolly and Danny Hammond also picked up 2 apiece. Tom Long and Novak got the other 2.
Chieftains celebrate another goal against MK (Photo Ian Snoding)
In South Wales it was a rough night for the Warriors as they went down 6-2 in a game that will be remembered more for the tactics of the Devils and the officials seemingly oblivious to what was going around them. Ricky Mills and Adrian Woodyard got the goals for the Warriors who will be relieved to get out of Wales with no lasting injuries.
The Chieftains return to action on Saturday night when they host Swindon ENL Wildcats before travelling to fellow title challengers and local rivals Invicta Dynamos on Sunday night, while the second string sides do battle at the Riverside when the Mustangs visit the Warriors. Meanwhile away from the ice, the Chieftains are in the running for ‘Team of the Year’ in the Essex Chronicle annual sports awards. The Chelmsford womens team, the Cobras, won it last year and the men are up against 3 cricket teams and a ladies football team. To support ice hockey and the Chieftains, please text ‘EC Sport 0022’ to 65100 in the UK (Texts cost 50p+standard rate). Closing date is midnight (GMT) Friday 4th February Contact the author Pete.lewis@prohockeynews.com
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