News Report

Chieftains silence Thunder!

Another solid performance from the team for our last league home game of 23/24

• admin
• 05 March 2024

It's fair to say that for this season, our games against MK Thunder have highlighted the quality they have in their netminders. Our last away game took a while to break them down, would this game be different?

There were a few noticeable people missing from the squad for this game, Lawday, Raynor, Hitchings, and Pickering. Dominic Rae had put on a superb display the night before against Slough, and he has proved himself to be an incredible talent alongside Jordan, so it was good to see him in between the pipes for this game.

The puck dropped, and as you'd expect, the Chieftains went straight on the attack. In previous home games, MK Thunder had been short benched, but this was not the case for this game. With only 48 seconds being played, Leigh Jamieson took a two minute penalty for hooking. The Chieftains were on the powerkill, but this didn't stop them from their attacking play. At 2:48, Dominic Wealthall got two minutes for tripping, and suddenly MK Thunder found themselves on the powerkill. The home fans didn't have to wait long to witness Damon Porter score his first goal of the night, he was assisted by Grant Bartlett at 3:46 to make it 1-0. The Riverside was rocking, and the crowd volumes began to rise. As the open, attacking play continued, the Chieftains were in full control. At 7:18, Cameron Bartlett scored to make it 2-0. He was assisted by Tommy Huggett and Grant Bartlett. MK Thunder's defence was looking weak, leaving it all to their netminder to do. At 10:07, assisted by Alan Lack and Cameron Bartlett, Grant was able to get the first goal of his night to make it 3-0. It appeared that the floodgates had opened, and the Chieftains were looking hungry for more goals. There was a small group of MK Thunders players doing their best to antagonise certain Chieftains players, and at 19:47, it looked like George Howe was attempting to piggyback Alan Lack as he was crouched over. Lack stood up and flipped Howe onto the ice, which was very funny to see, but Lack got two minutes for roughing and two minutes for misconduct. He left the ice early, as there were only a few seconds remaining in the first period. The first period ended 3-0, Rae faced 9 shots, and MK Thunder faced 27! 

Due to his penalty, Lack sat watching the first few minutes of the second period from the sinbin, but as per the first period, the Chieftains were continuing their attacking play. At 21:34, Grant Bartlett was able to score a superb short-handed goal, assisted by Damon Porter, to stretch the Chieftains lead further. It was now 4-0. MK Thunder just didn't look like scoring. Certain MK players continued to try and antagonise the Chieftains, and again, MK found themselves on the powerkill. At 25:10, assisted by Damon Porter and Alan Lack, Cameron Bartlett was able to score his second to make it 5-0. The shots just kept raining down on the MK netminder, and MK soon gained another penalty! At 33:34, Jay King was able to score a great powerplay goal from distance, assisted by Sasha Maltsev, to make it 6-0. At 34:30, MK managed to build a surprise attack on the Chieftains net and scored to make it 6-1, but the Chieftains continued to dominate the second period, and at 36:21, assisted by Hallden Barnes-Garner and Ethan Reid, Ollie Baldock scored the last goal of the period to make it 7-0. Rae faced 7 shots, and MK Thunder faced 33.

The second period had been a really busy period, with lots of attacking play and plenty of shots on MK's net. MK changed their netminder, and it was now the turn of young Norton to fill the pipes for them. It was no surprise that the third period started off a bit slower, but the tempo slowly increased. At 42:28, Damon Porter scored the second of his night, he was assisted by Ollie Baldock and Hallden Barnes-Garner to make it 8-0. Five minutes later, at 47:09, Eden Rolfe scored his very first Chieftains goal to make it 9-0. He was assisted by Daniel Fay and Tommy Huggett. The home crowd raised the noise levels in appreciation of his goal, and the bench all congratulated him as he went past. Eden had been taking quite a few shots on goal, so it was well deserved when it went in. MK were continuing their tactics of attempting to rile players, and at 49:42, Dan Fay and Mark Austen dropped gloves, coupled with Alan Lack and Dominic Wealthall having a few words too. The sinbin soon filled up, and it wasn't long before George Howe received a penalty for holding and joined the other players in the MK sinbin. Chants of "You need a bigger bin" started amongst the fans. At 53:42, Sasha was able to get himself on the scoresheet, he was assisted by Eden Rolfe and Alan Lack, it was now 10-0. The many shots continued to fall on the MK net, and at 55:47, Damon Porter scored his hat trick to make it 11-0. He was assisted by Ethan Reid and Ollie Baldock. As the final seconds ran down, the Chieftains mustered one last attack. At 59:48, Hallden Barnes-Garner was able to tip the puck in as he was assisted by Ollie Baldock and Cameron Bartlett, and the game finished 12-1. Rae faced six shots in the final period, and MK faced 37.

This was another game where the Chieftains demonstrated how dangerous and clinical they can be. With MK Thunders tactics falling foul (continuously riling certain players), there was never any doubt that the Chieftains were in control and assured the win.

A huge congratulations to Eden Rolfe for his first ever Chieftains goal, and he thoroughly deserved man of the match too. Well done, Eden!

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

#LetsGoChieftains #CantBelieveWhereTheSeasonHasGone