Double win sees Chieftains go joint top (From Chelmsford Weekly News)

Double win sees Chieftains go joint top

12:51pm Wednesday 9th January 2013 in Sport

ICE HOCKEY: TWO wins last weekend saw the Chieftains leapfrog Wightlink Raiders to go joint top with the Romford Raiders on goal difference in the National Ice Hockey League South 1.

A 5-1 demolition on Saturday night in Berkshire could and should have been a 5-0 whitewash but thanks to some questionable officiating the Chieftains were shorthanded and Ben Clements missed out on his chance of a shutout with a late goal from the home side.

Earlier in the game Danny Hammond had opened the scoring early on before a Gary Clarke hat-trick and a Julius Sinkovic marker had the Essex side 5-0 ahead at one stage.

Clarke rightly picked up the man of the match award after a fine performance capped off by three goals.

On Sunday night and it was a similar tale as the Chieftains ran in seven goals with just one reply from former Chieftains favourite Jakub Klima late on to again stop a clean sheet from Clements.

This time the goals came from a pair from Hammond and Tibor Schneider and single goals from James Ayling, Grant Bartlett and Michael Ranby.

Ayling had an exceptional night and took home the man of the match award, while Klima took home the beers for a lacklustre Redskins team.

Next weekend sees the biggest game of the season at the Riverside so far as the Wightlink Raiders and the Chieftains do battle for the South East Trophy over two legs.

Saturday is on the Isle of Wight and Sunday night is back in Chelmsford in what will be a tough encounter against Jeremy Cornish's team.

The two sides are battling hard with the Romford Raiders for top spot in the league at present, but all eyes will be on who picks up the first piece of silverware of the season in a competition involving more than two sides (Romford already won the Raiders Cup with an early season win over Wightlink).

A bumper crowd is expected as both sides are still in with a real chance of doing a treble this season and will want to win the trophy and take the bragging rights that go with it.

Face off is the usual time of 6.30pm, but fans are advised to arrive early to get your seats and help build the atmosphere in what will surely be a tough test and a physical encounter.

Prior to this weekend’s action, the club are hosting a poker night at the Two Brewers pub in Chelmsford on Friday (January 11) at 7.30pm.

It’s a £10 buy-in and all are welcome to attend (under-18s will not be permitted to play).

* HOME: Sunday, January 13, Wightlink Raiders 6.30pm (SE Trophy Final 2nd Leg)

* AWAY: Saturday, January 12 at Wightlink Raiders 6pm (SE Trophy Final 1st Leg).