Sunday night, NIHL S1 league winners, Chelmsford Chieftains, travelled to Gosport to play the Solent Devils. Devils have taken points from their last four home games, and were hoping their recent run of giant slaying would continue.
Drew Campbell and Anthony Leone battling for the puck – Photo courtesy of Dave Chapman
The game started, and from the drop both teams clearly had a game plan. The Devils, defending hard, and pushing forward whenever the opportunity arose, with the Chieftains attacking and falling back to defend in their turn.
As the buzzer went at the end of the first period, the two teams headed to their respective locker rooms with the score board still reading 0-0, despite Christian Cole facing down fifteen shots in the Devils goal, and Ben Clements stopping fourteen for the Chieftains.
As the second period started, Chelmsford went on the attack, and Jake Sylvester picked himself up an unassisted goal, after less than two minutes of play.
The Devils kept on pushing, and so did the Chieftains. So often this season, the Chieftains pushed themselves in to the lead, that they were used to their opponents trying to catch up, and the Devils had been behind so many times they have become resilient and don’t let their heads drop when they find themselves in that position.
With over three quarters of the period gone, Richard Facey managed to find Aiden Doughty, who went on to beat Clements and level the score.
Aiden Doughty – Photo courtesy of Dave Chapman
Thinking they were going in to the second break, still with a tied game, the Devils took a blow, when Matthew Turner helped Lukas Zatopek push the Chieftains back in to the lead.
When the two teams returned to the ice, the Devils immediately went on the attack, taking just over two minutes for Matt Lawday to level the score, assistance coming from Mark Pitts and head coach, Alex Murray.
Shortly after this, the penalty box had the only visitor of the evening, Alex Staples getting a two minute penalty for interference. This made no difference to the score however, and Staples returned to the ice with the game still 2-2.
With the game heading in to the final five minutes, the Devils were beginning to tire, which is when Oliver Baldock helped Sylvester get a second goal, putting the Chieftains back in to the lead.
Minutes later, league leader in goals, Juraj Huska doubled Chelmsford’s lead, with the assists coming from Sean Barry and Alex Staples.
Mason Wild avoiding Anthony Leone – Photo courtesy of Dave Chapman
As the final minute ticked down, the Devils called in Cole from the goal, getting an extra man on the ice to see if they could pull back one of the goals. Unfortunately, the Chieftains only saw another opening, Brandon Ayliffe managing to get the puck on target with no netminder there to block it.
This ended the game 5-3 to Chelmsford, giving them their twenty second win of the season, keeping them sixteen points clear at the top of the table.
The Devils, however, remain in seventh, four points behind sixth place Milton Keynes. These two teams meet for a double header weekend, this weekend, starting Saturday in Milton Keynes and continuing Sunday in Gosport.
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