Raiders take Essex derby spoils

ROMFORD, UK – Romford recorded their fifth consecutive victory on Sunday evening as Juraj Huska’s fourth straight hat-trick powered them to a 6-3 win over the Chelmsford Chieftains in the Essex derby. In front of a seasons-best crowd at Rom Valley Way, the home Raiders jumped out to a 2-0 lead midway through the first period owing to goals by captain Anthony Leone and the sharp-shooting Huska. Leone scored short-side past former Raiders stopper Euan King after just four minutes, Huska one-timing a pass from Danny Marshall to double the lead nine minutes later. The Chieftains would answer back before the break as a minor penalty to the Raiders‘ Tyrone Miller expired, Alex Green finally beating Michael Gray after the Raiders’ goaltender had made a succession of huge stops on the penalty kill. It was a timely boost for a Chieftains side that had looked disjointed for much of the first period, the Raiders unable to clear the puck as the penalty clock wound down. Chelmsford’s Aaron Connolly and the Raiders’ Huska traded goals as Romford relinquished and then retook the lead in the space of five second period minutes. Connolly scored off the rush, firing a wrist-shot from the right circle that somehow evaded Gray to the stick-side minutes before Huska capped excellent play from Frankie Harvey with a rising wrister that caught the goal-frame on the way in. It was a fractious lead for the home side, one their penalty killers would do their absolute best to maintain early in the third. Romford killed off an overlapping tripping penalty to AJ Smith from the end of the second period, but were called for a pair of minor infractions over the course of the next five minutes. With both killed off, Danny Marshall played a loose puck ahead to a breaking Huska; Huska moved in, deked to his backhand and lifted the puck over King’s right pad to give the Raiders much-needed breathing space midway through the third. Four ‘tricks in a row for the Slovakian 28-year old and a hearty sigh of relief from the home faithful. Blaho Novak’s 10-minute misconduct ended his evening prematurely, whilst a pair of minor penalties to the Chieftains’ Danny Cox and Alex Green presented the Raiders with a golden opportunity to stretch their lead on a 5-on-3 powerplay. Frankie Harvey duly backhanded home a loose puck for his 15^th goal of the season and a 5-2 Romford lead, before Tom Long banked home a cross-ice feed from Danny Hammond as the Chieftains finally cashed in with the extra man. Chelmsford pulled King with a little over a minute to go, but Raiders’ player-coach Marshall allayed any fears of further final-minute heartache to the Chieftains by hitting the empty net from neutral ice to seal an excellent win for the home side. King was strong in spite of his defence’s inability to prevent a succession of breakaways, whilst Gray stood strong through a lengthy 5-on-3 kill, turning aside 16 of 17 third period shots to preserve the lead and earn the victory. Contact the author – alex.nunn@prohockeynews.com