Chieftains season ends in defeat

CHELMSFORD,U.K The Chelmsford Chieftains were unable to maintain their unbeaten run when they travelled to Telford to play the English National League North division two champions on April 4. With a shortened bench due to the late arrangement of the fixture the Essex side were always going to be up against it. Amongst those missing were three of the top four scorers as well as three regular defenseman, however the legendary Dave Capps returned to the line up alongside junior stars Dan Staples and Blaho Novak. The score was 7-1 to the Chieftains from the first game in Chelmsford in what was a bad tempered affair with misconducts and scuffles galore. The game also had a proper gloves off centre ice fight between BT Williams and Owen Bennett. The second leg started off with both sides feeling the other out and both net minders faced some good shots but both kept the scores level going into the first break. Tempers were simmering once again though; however the Chieftains were always going to struggle in the physical stakes with only Karl Hopper and Reece Covington as the tough guys on the team. The second started with a quick goal from the Titans which put the Shropshire side in control on the night and they never looked back. The game was end to end action and both sides didn’t let up in their checks or desire to score a goal. The Titans were the first to score though as Ben Clements in the Chieftains net was unsighted on a shot from Ryan Stanton and it was 2-0. The period ended in controversy though as former Chieftain Dave Fielder checked Slovak superstar Jerry Pavlus to the ice as the teams were skating to the locker rooms after the buzzer. Referee Dave Goodwin sent Fielder for a 2+10 call so leaving the Titans starting the third on the penalty kill. The penalty was almost over when Pavlus got his own back on the Titans and scored past the very impressive Daniel Brittle in the Titans goal. That wasn’t the end of the controversy surrounding Pavlus though as a number of Titans players tried to remonstrate with him as he skated back to the Chieftains bench and he was lucky to get there without any physical confrontation. Things really heated up about 10mins later when an incident behind the net led to Simon James dropping the gloves and fighting Pavlus, although Pavlus wanted nothing to do with James and dived to the ice and covered up. As the Slovak got up another Titan skated in and wanted to have words with Pavlus who was protected by the linesmen. As he skated off from the incident Titans captain Mike Roden left the bench and chased down Pavlus who was this time defended by his team mate Alex Staples. Roden didn’t leave it there and continued through a small crowd of players and tried again to get to Pavlus. Following his captains lead Ryan Stanton too went for words with Pavlus and things were incredibly close to spilling into a full bench clearance as by now around 11 Titans players were on the ice to the Chieftains 4 (Pavlus had managed to get onto the bench by now) and more were looking to come onto the ice. Goodwin dished out four misconduct penalties to the Titans and a roughing minor to James. Pavlus took a 2+10 for the initial incident which led to the gloves coming off. The game ended without further incident but both sides realised that the tie was over as a contest and were happy to play out the final nine and a half minutes or so. To keep a lid on things Chieftains coach Dean Birrell kept Pavlus on the bench during the hand shakes for his own safety as well as stopping a further escalation of trouble on the ice. Chieftains blueliner and one of the unsung heroes of the season Alex Staples picked up the man of the match beers although some Chieftains fans felt that Novak deserved it for an impressive debut at the tender age of 16. This meant that on aggregate the score was Chelmsford 8 Telford 3 and the Chieftains could call themselves, unofficially, the English National League division two National champions. Speaking after the game Pavlus said, in a broad Slovak accent and a big grin; “They all love me in Telford, they all want to touch me and get their hands on me. I like Telford,” Pavlus said In other news from the Chelmsford rink the Chelmsford Cobras women’s team won their league on Sunday with a 3-2 win over title rivals the Basingstoke Bison Ladies. This now means they go on to the play offs to determine who will get promotion to the Premier League. Completing the silverware could well be the U16’s a side who need three points from two games to be crowned champions in their league. No-one can argue that this season has been very productive for Chelmsford ice hockey and the future certainly looks a lot brighter than it did this time last year. Contact the author at  Pete.lewis@prohockeynews.com