News Report

Chieftains vs MK Thunder

A great win for the first home game of the season!

• admin
• 17 September 2024

The Chieftains welcomed MK Thunder to the Riverside for the first home game of the 24/25 season. MK Thunder have already played a couple of games, and in fairness to MK, they have managed to keep the score lines fairly low. How would the Chieftains fair against an improved Thunder.

The puck dropped for the first period, and the Chieftains, as you'd expect, set out their intentions right from the start. The play was fast and attacking, MK Thunder were being pegged back in their own half, and the home fans didn't have to wait long for the first goal of the night. At 3:01, assisted by Dylan Dix, Grant Bartlett scored with a great shot shortly after a face-off, it was now 1-0. The Riverside was rocking as the home fans celebrated, but shortly after at 3:59, assisted by Grant Bartlett and Dylan Dix, Cameron Bartlett was able to get himself on the scoresheet too, it was now 2-0. Dylan Dix was having an immediate impact on the game, and the home fans were enjoying his well-timed hits too! MK Thunder were really struggling to get any kind of rhythm going, and the Chieftains just kept on pushing. At 5:19, assisted by Mikey Power and Dylan Dix, Dan Fay scored to make it 3-0. MK Thunder were on the ropes, and at 07:21, assisted by Cameron Bartlett and Alan Lack, Grant Bartlett was able to score the second goal of his night to make it 4-0. MK Thunder seemed to be able to gather themselves together, and the following minutes became slightly more even. MK never looked deadly, as the Chieftains defence was quick to stop any attacks, but at 11:24, with a 1 on 1 attack on Jordan Lawday, Xander Robinson was able to get one past the Chieftains netminder to make it 4-1. The Chieftains gathered themselves together, and the attacking play continued for them. At 14:35, Dylan Dix appeared to get a well timed hit put on an MK player who span in the air like a spinner dolphin. Dylan was sent to the sinbin for 2 minutes for clipping (much to the home fans disagreement), but the Chieftains were easily able to kill off the powerplay and were soon back to full strength. The latter part of the first period saw the Chieftains constantly attacking and fending off a few rogue attacks from MK, and at 19:03, assisted by Jay King and Ollie Baldock, Hallden Barnes-Garner was able to get a powerplay goal to make it 5-1 (and this is how the period ended). MK had 5 shots on goal, and the Chieftains had 15 shots on goal.

The second period started, and as per the first period, the action was pretty much one sided. Every time MK Thunder headed towards the Chieftains goal, they were quickly shut down by the Chieftains defence. At 24:43, assisted by Richie Pickering, Dan Fay was able to score and make it 6-1. The home fans were definitely enjoying a fine display from the team, the shots continued to rain down on the Thunders goal, and for a while, the MK netminder was doing a great job of keeping the Chieftains at bay. At 33:43, assisted by Cameron Bartlett, Dylan Dix was able to make a great charge on goal, and he scored his first home goal to make it 7-1. MK Thunder were becoming increasingly frustrated, they just couldn't put the passes together to form an attack. At 35:36, what appeared to be an appalling challenge on Dan Fay was made by Dominic Wealthall. Dan Fay received a check to the head and was laid flat out on the ice. At first, the referee didn't appear to have noticed. Richie Pickering went over to Wealthall to make his thoughts known and was quickly separated. The home fans were shouting "Off!Off!Off!", and the referee took action. Dominic Wealthall was ejected off the ice and received a game penalty. Some fans felt he'd gotten away lightly, as if he had remained on the ice, he would have been a marked man. At 37:29, assisted by Mikey Power and Jay King, Hallden Barnes-Garner scored a great goal to make it 8-1 and extend the Chieftains lead even further. The second period ended 8-1, MK had 4 shots on Lawday compared to 18 shots on the MK Thunders netminder.

For the third and final period, Tom Adams replaced Jordan Lawday in between the pipes. The home fans didn't have long to wait for the next goal. At 41:34, assisted by Ollie Baldock and Hallden Barnes-Garner, Mikey Power scored his first goal at the Riverside to make it 9-1. The attacking play was relentless on MK Thunder, and within 3 minutes, the Chieftains scored again. At 44:32, assisted by Sasha Maltsev and Dylan Dix, Hallden Barnes-Garner got his hattrick of the night to make it 10-1. From here onwards, the tempo seemed to slow down, but MK were still struggling to form attacks. At 49:36, there was a scramble around MK's goal, and the puck managed to find its way across the line. The eleventh and final goal was scored by TJ Fillery, assisted by Ben Russell and Kieran Raynor. The Chieftains faced 9 shots on goal, while the MK netminder faced 17 shots for the last period.

Dylan Dix was awarded Man of the Match for his first home game, where he achieved one goal and four assists. A massive well done to Dylan!

We're only two games in, and already the team is looking great. We can't wait to see what the rest of the season holds for the Chieftains!

If you'd like to see the stats for the game, just click here.

#PerfectStartToTheSeason #LetsGoChieftains