LONDON RAIDERS 0 CHELMSFORD CHIEFTAINS 6
CHELMSFORD CHIEFTAINS 9 MILTON KEYNES THUNDER 5

Table-topping Chelmsford Chieftains are back on course to retain their league championship after a maximum points weekend. It was a stark contrast from the previous weekend’s disappointment when the chasing Invicta took three points off of the defending champions, closing the gap to just three points. The Chieftains had to up their game if they wanted to secure a 5th successive title and that’s just what they did.

The Chieftains travelled to Lee Valley on Saturday to face third placed London Raiders, formally and soon to be again Romford Raiders. They had struggled against the ‘old enemy’ on a couple of occasions this season, but this was not to be one of those occasions as the Chieftains put on a superb team performance in front of a large partisan crowd.

In net for Chieftains was Sonny Phillips and back on the blue line was Czech defenceman Lukas Zatopek, starting for the first time in 2017.

Chieftains took control from the off and went ahead early on when Jake Sylvester netted at 6.24, the start of what was going to be a memorable night for the Chelmsford youngster. Less than a minute later the lead had doubled as Sylvester the scorer became the provider, his pass putting Juraj Huska in on goal and the Slovak forward beat Euan King to make it 2-0. Chieftains continued to pile the pressure on and at 13:57 once again it paid off.  Another of the young guns, Ollie Baldock was the man on target making it 3-0.

Before the restart Raiders coach Alan Blyth hit the panic button and signalled for an early time-out as he tried to turn the tide. This certainly helped the home team but King still remained the busier of the netminders. 

A tripping penalty against Zatopek gave Raiders a powerplay chance towards the end of the opening period, but they could not capitalise and had goalie Euan King to thank for denying a Chelmsford breakaway chance.

The second period started with Chieftains given the powerplay chance after the Raiders were given a bench penalty for too many men on the ice. King and the Raiders defence stood firm, which is less than can be said about official Phil O’ Neill who took a wayward stick to the head. He hit the ice and had lengthy treatment which caused the Referee to halt the period early to allow his linesman to recover.

After the break the action resumed with six minutes of the 2nd period still remaining. At 36:41 Chieftains hit goal number four. Huska once again with the assist, Sylvester the scorer as he beat King to make it 4-0. This really was game over as Chieftains were playing with confidence in all areas. And just to make sure it was job done further Sylvester and Huska strikes completed a very satisfying evening, a 6-0 whitewash for the travelling Chieftains.

It was also a memorable evening for the young guns. Sylvester netting his first hat trick in Chieftains colours and Sonny Phillips keeping a clean sheet, his first shut-out wearing the Black ’n’ Gold. On Sunday the Chieftains entertained the vastly improved Milton Keynes Thunder at Riverside. But on the back of last night’s performance only a brave man would bet against anything else but maximum points for the league leaders. With goals from Danny Hammond, Sylvester and Huska securing a 3-0 lead at the end of the first period it looked like Chieftains had total control.

But early in the second Chieftains let a goal slip as Ross Green scored for the visitors. A pretty soft shot which may have taken a deflection, but whatever the case netminder on duty Ben Clements shut-out dreams were gone for the night. 

It looked to be as if normal service had been resumed as Chieftains replied two minutes later, Hammond dancing around the Thunder defence to score a brilliant solo effort at 28.12. Thirty seconds later and Brandon Ayliffe extended the lead even further and at 5-1 it looked as if that the victory was sealed. 

That might be exactly what the home fans thought, even worst that may have been the thoughts of the players on the Chieftains bench. Chieftains defenceman Carl Graham was given a two minute penalty for hooking at 29:51, giving the Thunder what was going to be their only powerplay chance of the night. But it was a chance they took and former Chieftains Jakub Klima scored just eight seconds into the penalty. 

This seemed to give his team momentum and Chieftains began to look a little disorganised. Thunder took advantage of Chieftains disarray and scored twice more before the end of the middle period, it was now 5-4 with just 20 minutes of the game remaining.

Chieftains fans looked nervous as the teams came out for the final period. 33 seconds after the restart the nervous look became a look of disbelief as they looked at the scoreboard to see it now was 5-5, a Boris Ruzicka goal levelling the scores.

Chieftains had squandered a four goal lead it was time to get re-focused if they wanted to make it a maximum points weekend. At 43:14 a Zatopek pass from deep in the defensive zone to Hammond was redirected to Matt Turner who scored from close range. This calmed the nerves and Chieftains began to look the better side once more. Two minutes later and Chieftains had a two goal cushion as Hammond netted his hat-trick goal. But he was not finished yet as he completed a four-goal personal tally with ten minutes remaining, a powerplay goal, Huska with the assist. 

Time for one more goal before the final buzzer when the two Bartlett twins linked up to provide the assists, the club captain Anthony Leone finishing off the move to secure a 9-5 victory. Not the dominant display that was expected, but they dug deep to gain the points.

With Invicta losing both game over the weekend Chieftains now lead the NIHL Division 1 South table by a clear 7 points with a game in hand.

In NIHL Division 2 East the Warriors kept up the pressure on league leaders Peterborough Islanders with a 5-2 victory over Invicta Mustangs at Riverside on Saturday. Ross Brears was the star of the show netting a hat-trick.

This Saturday the Chieftains face Solent Devils at Riverside as their title quest continues, Face-off is at 5.40pm and the Chieftains are running a Kids For A Quid offer. www.chelmsfordchieftains.com