News Report

Chieftains vs Slough Jets

A hard fought game that was truly on a knife edge.

• admin
• 10 October 2023

We've already faced Slough Jets a lot this season, especially with the Challenge games. With both teams flying high in the league, a win against the Jets would provide some breathing space between the teams, after an amazing game away to the Solent Devils the night before, where the Chieftains won 5-9. Could this be a 4 pointer weekend?

The puck dropped for the first period, and as you'd expect from these two teams, the pace and intensity was full on. The Riverside was rocking right from the start, the crowd were truly behind the Chieftains, but at 01:48, Conner Redmond, unassisted, was able to get the puck past Lawday in what appeared to be a scramble around the goal mouth. Unlike the previous week, where things fell silent, the crowd were determined to get behind the Chieftains and the noise in the Riverside intensified. The play settled, and the action was end to end. At one point, the Chieftains were in control, and the shots were raining down on the Slough netminder. At 05:21, Conner Redmond got 2 minutes for hooking. The Chieftains were on the powerplay. At 05:26, up stepped Sasha Maltsev to score a cracking goal assisted by James Pentecost and Oli Baldock, and it was back to level pegging. The action at times was end to end, but the Chieftains always seemed to have the upper hand. At 19:52, James Pentecost, assisted by Dan Hitchings, scored a beautiful goal with only 7.4 seconds remaining of the period. The Riverside was well and truly rocking, a great time to score a goal, just before the end of the first period! The first period ended 2-1 to the Chieftains. Lawday faced 5 shots on goal, versus the Slough netminder who faced 12.

As the second period started, the game so far had felt relatively even. The Chieftains had most of the control of the game, but Slough looked deadly on counter attacks. This game really could go either way. At 24:41, Sebastian Mohr from the Jets evened things out again to make it 2-2. Usually Slough games are very physical, but this game felt different. It was proving to be a very fast and fluid game. At 28:49, Ty Cathcart got 2 minutes for hooking. The Chieftains were on a powerplay once again. The Slough Jets were doing a great job of killing off the powerplay, but at 30:33, assisted by Alan Lack, Grant Bartlett was able to score a cracking goal to make it 3-2 to the Chieftains. This was then followed by another goal from Grant Bartlett, unsassisted at 32:31, to make it 4-2. The Riverside was rocking, and the fans felt they could breathe a little easier. The play continued to be open, end to end, and at 37:10, Sebastian Mohr was able to get himself on the score sheet once again. It was now 4-3. This game was tight! The second period ended 4-3 to the Chieftains, with both netminders facing 12 shots each, highlighting how even things really were.

The puck dropped for the final period, the Riverside was loud, the crowd determined to spur the team on. At 44:02, Alan Lack was able to get himself on the score sheet, assisted by Damon Porter and Ethan Reid. Again, the fans could breathe a little easier. The score was now 5-3. The play continued to be even, but with 10 minutes remaining, the balance started to shift in the Jets' favour. Slough were starting to take control, the Chieftains were on the back foot, and at 50:59, Hemmings Maher was able to pull back a goal for the Jets. This goal seemed to light the fire for Slough. A bad challenge was made to James Pentecost right by the team bench. He went down on the floor, holding his head, the Chieftains players were up in arms, but Slough continued to play, there was disarray, and a goal was scored in the Chieftains net. The Riverside was shocked by what appeared to be another poor decision, but the goal stood, it was now 5-5, this game was truly on a knife edge. The Chieftains were trying to gain control of the game, but their play wasn't as smooth as previous periods, they just couldn't get past Slough's defence. At 54:23, Timo Lindgren was able to score unassisted, adding further pressure to the Chieftains. There was still hope, with over 5 minutes left, the Chieftains could bring this back, but unfortunately Slough had control, and with the clock counting down the final minute, at 59:22 Jack Goodchild was able to score the 7th and final goal for Slough. The final period ended 5-7. Lawday faced 15 shots, whilst Slough faced 14.

Alan Lack was awarded Man of the Match for his fantastic efforts during the game, which unfortunately didn't go the way the players or fans would've liked, but this season is looking to be a very close affair, and we look forward to the next match against Solent Devils at the Riverside on Sunday, 15th October.

We hope to see you all at the Riverside then!

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

#LetsGoChieftains #AlwaysProudToBeAChieftainFan #AlwaysBringTheNoise