News Report

Cup Final trial run

A difficult night, our old foes, the Dynamos...

• admin
• 24 January 2023

After the previous weekend's rollercoaster journey in the cup semi-finals, the Chieftains were up against the Invicta Dynamos in a league game that was also a chance to check out our fellow Cup Final team.

The Invicata Dynamos have really hit form at the moment, and with an opportunity for them to go above us in the league, there was a lot to play for.

Normally, you never hear anything about the training session before a game, but with the Dynamos in town, you just never know what is going to happen. It wasn't long into the training session before Lillis and Grant Bartlett were having a few 'words', it was definitely escalating as more team members gathered around. It almost broke out into a fight, both players having to be separated. Was this going to be another repeat of the Slough game? 

Bailey Chittocks was back from injury (with the crowd giving him an extra loud cheer when he stepped out onto the ice), providing a reassuring presence during what is normally a very physical game against the Dynamos.

The first period started, and right from the outset, there was some extremely fast-paced action, each team trying to get the upper hand. It wasn't long before Bailey had been given a penalty for hooking and sent to the sin bin. Bailey received another penalty for interference shortly after. This time, Invicta were able to capitalise and score a power-play goal. It was 1-0 to Invicta

Up until this point, Invicta had most of the play, but the Chieftains dug in, and the last part of the first period really was moving in their direction. The Chieftains had multiple shots on the Invicta goal, but the Dynamo's netminder was on top form. This was going to be a difficult night! The first period ended 1-0 to Invicta. Shots on goal showed that Invicta had 18 shots on Cech, and the Chieftains had 15 shots on Ryder. This was close, and all to play for in the second period.

The end of the first period had just come too soon, the team had really gained momentum and the edge. It was going to be a real test to continue this into the second period.

The second period started, and within 30 seconds Stan Lascek received a 2 minute penalty for hooking. Could this be an opportunity for the Chieftains to equalise? Unfortunately not! The team just couldn't seem to string the passes together to build an assault on goal. In fact, it was Invicta who were able to capitalise with a short-handed goal, making it 2-0 to Invicta. Throughout the second period, there were various penalties for both teams, but whenever the Chieftains were on a powerplay they just couldn't capitalise. Even when there was a period when it was 5 on 3, they just couldn't get anything past the Dynamos netminder, there were various scrambles in front of the goal, but the Chieftains just couldn't find the back of the net. The Dynamos' netminder was, unfortunately, in top form. 

Just as the second period was reaching its end, up popped Callum Burnett with a fantastic charge on net. He was able to score a great goal. The second period ended 4-1 to Invicta and gave the home fans some hope of a turnaround of fortunes.

At the start of the third period, the Chieftains were looking tired. The first period had been so fast paced, and the second period had been draining too, but the team dug in and were still bringing the fight to Invicta. They were not giving up! At 07:01 of the 3rd period, Matt Turner was able to shrink the gap, making it 4-2 to Invicta .There was some optimism amongst the crowd that we could get the game back, but this was to be short-lived. Bailey Chittocks got 2 mins for tripping, the Chieftains were on the power kill, and as per previous periods, the Dynamos were able to make the most of it and get yet another goal. It was now 5-3 to Invicta. The crowd really tried to get behind the team, to give them an extra lift, but Invicta were able to score again at 12:49 of the 3rd period, it was now 6-3 to Invicta. With just under 3 minutes remaining, some of the home crowd began to leave as it looked like the game was done and dusted, but Frankie Clover made sure the remaining home fans still had something to cheer about with a great goal just before the final buzzer with 0.1 seconds remaining.

The final score was 6-3 to Invicta. The Chieftains had unfortunately lost.

T.J.Fillery won the much deserved 'Man of the Match' award with a great performance.

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

We go again next week, this time against Oxford City Stars.

We look forward to seeing you soon at the Riverside.

#LetsGoChieftains #YouCantWinThemAll #AlwaysProudToBeAChieftainsFan #WellDoneTJ