ENL Play-Off final goes to the wire

CHELMSFORD, UK – Chelmsford Chieftains and Romford Raiders battled out an entertaining 4-4 tie in the first leg of the ENL South Play Off final at the Riverside tonight.
 
In front of a packed Riverside rink, the two rivals took to the ice for the showpiece event of the season knowing that nothing would be settled on the night.
 
Chelmsford welcomed Director of Hockey Dean Birrell to the bench to assist player coach Gary Clarke and both sets of fans gave Chieftain Tom Long a rousing reception as he skated to the blue for the last time before joining the Royal Marines in the summer.
 
Perhaps it was the sentimental pre game build up or the large crowd affecting the home side, but it was the visitors who took an early hold on the game as Raiders player coach Danny Marshall picked up a loose puck in front of the net, and in the absence of any Chieftains players, simply fired the puck into the bottom corner of Ben Clements’ net.
 
Despite their good start, Romford were caught napping with just four minutes gone as Clarke picked up the puck on the blue line, dropped his shoulder on the Romford defenseman and fired a perfect snap shot past Michael Gray in the Raiders net to equalise.
 
A lack of calls by referee Blaine Evans allowed the physical side of the game to come into play and Shaun Yardley carefully sidestepped a charging Michael Ranby in the neutral zone and then Andrius Kaminskas levelled Chelmsford’s Alan Green down low in the zone with a solid body check.
 
The frustration on both sides was building and when a suspect icing call was loudly challenged by Chieftain Danny Hammond, Evans called him across for a chat, only to choose the same tact seconds later when Romford goalie Gray aired his thoughts after disagreeing with the whistler.
 
Despite struggling to break out of their zone thanks to efficient fore-checking from Romford, the Chieftains finally got some joy when a long pass from Danny Wright was picked up by Jakub Klima on the blue line and he showed great composure under pressure to score from close range.

 
The goal infuriated the visiting support as Ranby had taken Matt Turner down with a big hit nowhere near the puck just a few moments earlier right in front of the official.
 
Whether it was the goal they had conceded or a tactical decision, Romford then upped the ante with their third line of Shaun Wallis, Grant Turner and JJ McGrath taking the game to Chelmsford with some big hits mixed with suspect stick work on the home side.
 
Kaminskas was extremely fortunate to escape punishment with a late hit on Hammond in the corner and then McGrath punched James Ayling in the head as he was going off for a change right in front of the non-plussed Evans.
 
With a minute to go Kaminskas two handed Ranby as he skated down the wing knocking the Chelmsford player’s stick out of his hands to earn a slashing call, however was lucky not to be ejected when he cross checked the Chieftain in the back of the head as the pair got up off the ice in front of the watching official.
 
The period ended with Chelmsford leading, but the intimidation levels were upped as Klima found himself surrounded by blue shirts with no assistance from his team mates and then Ranby was grabbed by a clearly agitated McGrath but no punches were thrown.
 
The theatrics at the end of the first appeared to have given the Raiders an edge at the start of the second as they cycled the puck down low in the Chieftains zone from the restart.
 
Yardley got a great opportunity in the slot only to have the diving face of Dwayne Newman sprawling towards him, and the Raider blazed the puck over the bar. Romford had another great chance to break through seconds later when bustling Captain Anthony Leone appeared to have broken through, until the frame of Alex Green appeared from his left and cleared the danger.
 
With Romford looking in control, Kaminskas made an uncharacteristic error on his own blue to allow Clarke to step in, dispossess the Lithuanian of the puck and then fire the puck into the bottom left hand corner of the goal.
 
Long and Billy Phillips clashed in the Romford zone and had to be spoken to by Evans, and then Marshall forced a good save from Clements as the Raiders bounced back.
 
It took just a few minutes for Romford to reduce the deficit as the hard working AJ Smith chased down a dumped puck on Chelmsford’s Danny Cox, and made a solid hit before poking the puck out from behind the net to the oncoming Matt Turner, whose shot bounced up off Clements and over his head before rolling over the line to score.
 
Alan Green riled the Raiders bench with a clumsy hit just in front of them and when Newman hammered Huska mid-ice, the Romford troops looked positively livid.
 
They put their anger to good use however as the ever more impressive Turner span the Chieftains defence round in circles down low but Leone was unable to make the most of his chance in front of net.
 
McGrath was moved up to the first line by Marshall and he began to make space for Huska and his coach as they continued to pressure the Chelmsford defence. This lead to a holding penalty on Chelmsford’s Sean Easton, whose hugging of Huska in the corner left his team shorthanded.
 
Long had the chance to score a morale boosting short-handed goal as he broke clear with Green but could only fire straight at Gray , and then soon after, a fantastic pass from Taylor found Tom Davis all alone at the back post but Clements denied the former MK Thunder player with a show reel pad stack save.
 
Dwayne Newman was sent to the penalty box for firing the puck over the glass in his own defensive zone to give Romford a power play with two minutes to go, and Chelmsford initially did well to contain the Raiders.
 
A big hit on the Chelmsford blue line by Alan Green on Shaun Yardley upset the former Peterborough man and when Green hustled into the Raiders zone seconds later, Yardley gave Green a whack however bizarrely both players where given coincidental penalties after coming together following a whistle.
 
As the seconds ticked down the visitors managed to grab a well-deserved equaliser thanks to a thunderbolt slap shot from Phillips that lifted Clements water bottle off the net to make it 3-3 with only thirty seconds left.
 
It was an exciting end to a period in which Romford had certainly enjoyed the better of the opportunities outshooting their rivals 14 to 5.
 
The third period started with the Chieftains looking to regain a foothold and they were unlucky not to have an early power play when a clumsy trip by Davis on the breaking Hammond was waved off, before Turner again showed his skill with another jinking skate past the Chieftains defence only to let himself down with the finish.
 
The lack of calls by an official clearly following the play off mantra of allowing the game to flow was not doing Chelmsford any favours but they finally got a power play from the unlucky Huska who suffered the same fate as Newman for firing the puck over the glass.
 
The excellent Julian Smith snuffed out the threat of Hammond down the wing with a couple of timely interceptions and then Yardley broke free down the left hand side but was unable to get his pass across to the unmarked Marshall in the slot.
 
Long carved out a decent chance of his own as his hard skate down the wing saw him drop the puck back to Green whose shot flipped up back at Long in the crease and the Chelmsford forward illegally attempted to pat it down with his glove and was rightly called by the well placed Evans.
 
Despite having a quiet game up until this stage for a player of his pedigree, Hammond controlled a long pass from Brown and then skated into the zone, evaded the diving David Oliver and then fired calmly past Gray before celebrating wildly.
 
Romford didn’t let the goal affect them and Marshall had Chelmsford fans gasping in horror as his shot hit Clements on the shoulder and looped up in the air only to land behind the goal rather than in it. Phillips was also causing problems with his big shot and he tried a couple of long range efforts that were not dealt with particularly comfortably by Clements who was by now seeing quite a bit of rubber.
 
If the Chelmsford goalie was having a busy time, it was his Romford counterpart Gray who had the visiting fans on their feet with five minutes to go as he made a brilliant save down low from an Alan Green slap shot to keep his side within touching distance.
 
Chelmsford had a power play with four minutes to go as McGrath two handed Ranby’s stick out of his hands and Julian Smith made yet another solid interception on the blue when it looked like Klima might slip through.
 
A tripping call on Alex Green, after Phillips had caused mayhem in the Chelmsford zone gave the visitors a much needed power play with two minutes to go and a time out was called.
 
After the restart, more controversy arrived as Hammond cut inside from the left and was met by Tyrone Millers knee, before landing on his front teeth and slumping on to the ice.
 
With blood on the surface and Hammond hobbling off, an unfamiliar leniency at this level by Evans saw Miller escape with only a two minute kneeing call, and Chelmsford gained a brief power play.
 
As the sides approached the final minute, Huska was lucky to escape punishment for a borderline check from behind on Brears in his own zone and then the Slovak broke unchallenged down the right hand side of the ice before firing a rocket slap shot into the far side of Clements net to make it 4-4.
 
The massed Romford fans in the far corner of the rink celebrated wildly as the final buzzer went, and the home side contemplated a return game tomorrow in which they will most certainly start as underdogs.
 
Contact the author david.carr@prohockeynews.com