News Report

Essex Derby Day

A tale of two amazing netminders...

• admin
• 10 January 2023

If you're anything like us, you couldn't wait to get back to the Riverside for the first game of 2023.

Essex Derby games always bring in large crowds, and this was another sellout for the Riverside with a return for ex-chieftain netminder Sonny Phillips, but this time he was in between the pipes for Romford.

As the first period was being played out, both netminders were making great saves, and at times the action was end to end. It was proving difficult for the Chieftains to break through, but thankfully Grant Bartlett was able to push the Chieftains in front with a great, well worked goal. You could tell this was a derby game with both teams trying to stamp their authority, and up stepped Cameron this time to score another great goal putting the Chieftains 2-0 up. It really did feel like both teams could score at any time, and towards the end of the period, Romford were able to get a goal back, the 1st period ended 2-1.

The second period felt like a slightly different affair, the game was becoming more physical and penalties started to creep into the period. Unfortunately when the Chieftains were on the powerplay they just couldn't maximise the advantage, Romford seemed to reduce the amount of space available on the ice making it incredibly difficult to score, and with Sonny in between their pipes, this just added to the complexity. However, there were also great positives for the Chieftains defence too, after losing Neil Liddiard in the week, there was some uncertainty of how this might affect the team, but at one point Romford was 5 on 3 and the Chieftains defence looked solid, Luca was pulling pucks out of the air, making great saves, a truly phonemenal talent at such a young age. Chants of 'Luca' were ringing around the crowd in acknowledgement of his efforts.

This game was truly becoming a battle of the netminders, they were having a massive impact on the game.

Romford are notorious for being fast paced and strong in the final period, and this game was to be no exception. Again at times, it was end to end, there was a certain nervousness about the period with a slim lead held by the Chieftains. Halfway through the period, Romford were able to equalise, the nail biting commenced. It didn't take long for Matt Turner to get the Chieftains back in the lead with a power play goal, more stunning saves from both netminders were on display, but the Chieftains lead felt short lived, Romford equalised again. Romford had most of the control over the remaining last few minutes and the game slowed down, the inevitable nervousness of overtime was on its way. The third period ended 3-3.

At the start of overtime, both Bartletts were out on the ice, accompanied by Reid, great movement of the puck ensued, but again, Sonny was there to block any incoming shots, Romford then came on the attack, this time it was Luca's turn to show his prowess in between the pipes. You get the gist of OT, it was end to end, and than all of a sudden, Romford had scored. This time, the bragging rights were heading back to Romford.

To highlight the closeness of the game, Sonny faced 42 shots, Luca faced 41 shots, both were rewarded with "Man of the match" for their respective teams, and both netminders had a 93% save percentage. You can see more stats from the game by clicking here.

Next week, we've got some cup semi-final action at the Riverside, so we look forward to seeing you all soon.

#LetsGoChieftains #TwoTalentedNetminders #ThreePointWeekend