News Report

Chieftains vs Streatham Redhawks

Definitely game of the season so far!

• admin
• 29 October 2024

The Chieftains were missing a few key players for their fixture against Streatham Redhawks. The team welcomed back club legend Liam Chong into the mix, as well as Sam Bettell-Higgins and Nick Green from the Chelmsford Warriors to help bolster the squad. Streatham games are always tough and extremely tight, but how would they fair in their first meeting of the 24/25 season?

The puck dropped for the first period, and Liam Chong was on the first line, it was evident to see right from the start how easy it was for him to fit right back in. The first period was full on action, it was end-to-end, and the Chieftains were playing really well. Their passing was superb, and the team were working so well together. They were forming so many great attacks, it almost sounded like fireworks night as there were so many oohs and ahhhs coming from the fans. It was evident that if the Chieftains could keep the momentum up, this was going to be a cracker of a game. Streatham were being muscled off the puck, and they were struggling to form meaningful attacks. It really did feel that it was just a matter of time before the Chieftains would score, and at 14:51, the fans weren’t left disappointed. Sasha Maltsev passed the puck to Hallden Barnes-Garner, who came flying at the Streatham defence, their defender through himself down on the ice attempting to block whatever was coming, but Hallden made a sublime pass across to Mikey Power, who was able to score the first goal of the Chieftains night. It was now 1-0, and the Riverside roared! The Chieftains continued to attack, and Streatham were becoming increasingly frustrated. As the reaminder of the period played out, the Chieftains were mostly in control, with Streatham having to defend hard at times. The first period ended 1-0, Lawday faced 14 shots, while Streatham faced 15.

Streatham were expected to come out hard in the second, but the Chieftains managed to maintain a lot of their momentum that they’d had in the first period. Again, the action was end-to-end, but the Chieftains definitely had the upper hand. Streatham were having shots on goal, but the shots were from distance, a lot of shots were easily blocked by the Chieftains defence, and when required, Jordan Lawday was ensuring they were being kept at bay. The Chieftains continued their attacking play, causing Streatham real trouble at times. At 29:03, assisted by Callum Wells and Richie Pickering, TJ Fillery went flying at the Streatham Defence at pace and scored a great goal to make it 2-0, the Riverside really was rocking. However, it didn’t take long for Streatham to respond, at 30:36, Harvey Stead was able to score to make it 2-1. The Riverside fell silent, but not for long. The Chieftains continued to push, and the fans were loving the attacking play, this was turning out to be an impressive and dominant display from the team. The second period ended 2-1, Lawday faced 15 shots, Streatham faced 12.

The game was already turning out to be a belter, but the third period was definitely the cherry on top. With only a few minutes played of the period, at 41:58, assisted by Mikey Power, Hallden Barnes-Garner scored a cracking goal to make it 3-1. Streatham's frustration continued to grow, and the penalties started to come (for both teams). At 44:18, Callum Wells took a penalty for hooking. Streatham had the advantage, but to be fair, you would never have thought this. The Chieftains were calm on the puck, making crisp passes and successfully suppressing any Streatham threats. At 45:04, unassisted, Hallden Barnes-Garner scored a fantastic short-handed goal to make it 4-1. Streatham were in shock, and as seen in previous weeks, the Chieftains are becoming deadly on penalty kills and short-handed goals, the fans absolutely loved it! The end-to-end play continued, and at 49:58, assisted by Sam Russell, Cameron Bartlett scored to make it 5-1. The home fans couldn’t believe their eyes, but the scoreline was a huge credit to the Chieftains, the team was working as one solid unit, each line was working so hard. Streatham did not give up however, they kept attacking, but Jordan Lawday was pulling off some amazing saves and playing a massive part in keeping the scoreline as it was. The Chieftains continued to defend hard, but at 53:30, George Norcliffe was able to score for Streatham to bring the scoreline to 5-2. At times the Chieftains were being pushed back, but again, the team worked as one to defend well and suppress Streatham’s numerous attacking plays. The final period ended 5-2, Lawday faced 18 shots, while Streatham faced 8.

This game was definitely the best game of the season so far. The Chieftains put on an amazing display. We were missing out on so many key players, but you wouldn’t necessarily have noticed. The team worked so hard, and they can be proud, extremely proud, showing their skill, grit, and determination in front of all the home fans to see, and what a delight it was to watch!

So many players could've received Man of the Match in my eyes, but this time the spoils went to Jordan Lawday for his heroics between the pipes. Well done, Jordan!

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

#LetGoChieftains #LegendLiamChong #WhatAGame #WhatATeam