News Report

Chieftains vs Swindon Wildcats 2

A close game with an eventful third period!

• admin
• 10 December 2024

When the Chieftains last faced Swindon, the first two periods were really close, but the Chieftains secured the lead in the final period. Would this be the case for this game?

Swindon was extremely short-benched for this fixture, and as the puck dropped, home fans were hoping this would bode well for the Chieftains. The first ten minutes of the period saw the action going from end to end, with the Chieftains having the better of it. Swindon managed to attack a few times, but the Chieftains defence held strong, and the puck was quickly turned around in the opposite direction. As the period continued, the shots were really raining down on the Swindon netminder, he was like a wall, but well supported by his defence too. Towards the end of the period, the Swindon bench (mainly their coach) became frustrated with some of the officiating. Their bench received a penalty for abuse, and the Chieftains were on the power play. Only 30 seconds had passed before another penalty came Swindon’s way, Jay Warren was sinbinned for hooking, but he also abused the officials and received an additional two minutes for abuse. At 17:22, the deadlock was finally broken. Assisted by Dylan Dix and Grant Bartlett, Cameron Bartlett scored to make it 1-0. The pressure on the Swindon defence was relentless, their netminder was playing an absolute blinder. The first period ended 1-0, Lawday faced 7 shots, whilst Swindon faced 19.

The Chieftains started the second period with a minute left on the power play, but they just couldn’t break through the Swindon defence. The shots rained down on the Swindon nettie, but he was saving every shot. Swindon were being pegged back hard, but for a short-benched team, they were performing well and showed no signs of tiring. The action was pretty much one-way traffic, the Chieftains were trying everything possible, but no goals came. The second period ended 1-0, Lawday faced 5 shots, whilst Swindon faced 18.

For the final period, the game felt on a knife edge. The Chieftains had a narrow lead, Swindon was proving difficult to break down, but the Chieftains continued to apply the pressure. The Swindon coach was becoming increasingly frustrated too. More penalties came their way as the bench received two minutes for abuse and two minutes for delay of game. At 45:29, assisted by Mikey Power, Alan Lack took a shot on goal, the light came on, but the puck shot back out of the net. The home fans were celebrating, but the goal was being debated, the Riverside fell silent, waiting for the official's decision. The goal was given, the Chieftains were now 2-0 up, but Swindon wasn’t happy. At 45:33, Jay Warren was back in the sin bin for abuse, and the Chieftains were back on the power play. At 46:10, assisted by Mikey Power and Dylan Dix, Cameron Bartlett scored his second goal of the night to make it 3-0. From this point on, the Swindon coach became far less animated, their bench had played a massive part in reversing the solid work that the short-handed team had achieved up until that point. Various waves of attacks continued on the Swindon defence and netminder, and at 51:48, assisted by Dan Hicthings and Grant Bartlett, Cameron Bartlett was able to score his third goal of the night to stretch the Chieftains lead even further. It was now 4-0. Considering the Swindon team was so short-benched, they only seemed to tire in the last few minutes of the game. The Chieftains continued to push, but no further goals came. The final score was 4-0, a shutout for Jordan Lawday. Jordan only faced 2 shots in the third, whilst Swindon faced 14.

Cameron Bartlett was awarded Man of the Match for securing yet another hat trick, surprisingly for me, the Swindon netminder was not awarded Man of the Match for them.

The Chieftains continue their winning form, and with the top three teams not dropping points, the season continues to be extremely tight at the top!

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

#LetGoChieftains #AnotherWinningWeekend