Crushing wins for cruising Chieftains (From Chelmsford Weekly News)

Crushing wins for cruising Chieftains

5:08pm Wednesday 13th February 2013 in Local Sport

ICE HOCKEY: It was a comfortable week-end for the Chelmsford Chieftains who didn’t need to get out of second gear to run in 20 goals against two sides struggling for form.

On Saturday, a cruise to an emphatic 8-1 win saw James Ayling net a hat-trick while Danny Hammond picked up a brace.

Hammond’s second goal was his 263rd in Chieftains colours and he overtakes Karl Rogers as the all-time leading British goalscorer for the club and fourth overall behind Rick Smith (761), Andy Hannah (323) and Mark Stokes with 293.

The remaining goals came from Tom Castle, Grant Bartlett and Gary Clarke. Ryan Bainborough made a welcome return between the pipes and had a solid performace making a number of good saves and saw him pick up the man of the match award for the home side.

Unsurprisingly former Chieftains favourite Dwayne Newman picked up the award for the visitors after another fine showing on their defensive line.

On Sunday, it was a long trip down to Gosport for the Essex side for an always unwelcome visit to the small rink on the south coast.

Most teams want to get in there, get the game over with and come home and that’s exactly what the Chieftains did but not before they ran in 12 goals, including eight in a second period rout.

Ayling got the ball rolling at 16:51 with his first of another hat-trick before Clarke hit a goal either side of the first break.

Ayling, Hammond and Castle all scored before Andrew Goddard put the home side on the board.

That would be it for the hosts as Ross Brears, Ayling, Castle and Hammond again all netted before the end of the period.

A brace from Julius Sinkovic in the final session saw the score run up to 12. Grant Bartlett picked up the man of the match award.

Next week the Chieftains have just the one match on Sunday as they host the Devils at the Riverside in what will be expected to be a much closer game with the Gosport starting netminder Chico Cole returning to their line-up from the start.

This result leaves the Chieftains second in the table by one point but with a game in hand over leaders Wightlink Raiders who dropped a point against Cardiff on Sunday night.