Five unanswered goals in the final period saw the Chelmsford Chieftains pull away from the Invicta Dynamos to secure a 7-1 win in the NIHL South Division 1 on Sunday evening despite a tight opening two frames of play.

The Dynamos made the short trip over the Thames without top scorer Justin Noble and the injured Tim Smith but a spirited display kept them in the hunt come the close of the opening frame. In fact, over the first twenty minutes of the clash, the visitors would out shoot their hosts with Chelmsford shot stopper Ben Clements needed to turn away fourteen efforts on his net – David Wride doing the same with ten attempts on away team’s frame.

After a goalless opening period the Dynamos continued to push forward in the second and they would have taken the lead on an extended 5-on-3, with Matt Turner and Darren Brown sitting penalties for the Chieftains, but goalie Ben Clements was in excellent form. The shot stopper produced a number of fine stops to kill off the two man powerplay and keep the home side on a level footing.

Those saves then looked even more important later on when Chelmsford took the lead on a delayed penalty to finally break the deadlock midway through the tie. With the referee’s arm up to signal a roughing minor on Jack Tarczycki, Michael Ranby swept beyond David Wride to put the Chieftains 1-0 to the good. That edge would be extended five minutes later when Darren Brown and Tom Castle combined before Matt Turner put the puck over the line for the two goal advantage. In danger of falling out of sight, the Dynamos then answered before the break when Peter Vaisanen teed up Callum Fowler – the lively forward beating Ben Clements to half the deficit 54 seconds ahead of the buzzer.

With the score at 2-1 going into the last, it was still all to play for but the home side netted within moments of the puck drop to quickly restore their two goal cushion. Michael Ranby’s pass found Julius Sinkovic and the Slovak did the rest to put the Chieftains 3-1 ahead. Midway through, the same pairing then repeated that feat as Sinkovic, the scourge of the Dynamos in the most recent meeting between the two sides, put away his second of the night for the 4-1 advantage. When that edge than became 5-1, the visitors were all but out of the game as James Ayling converted beyond David Wride with eight minutes still to play. With time winding down tensions then boiled over when Peter Vaisanen was called for a roughing minor that would escalate to an exchange of words and water bottles. Dynamos Head Coach Kevin Parrish was dispatched from the bench for his involvement in the fracas as he picked up a game misconduct that would see him sit out the next fixture. When play finally restarted, Chelmsford added two more to their tally for a slightly flattering 7-1 victory. Darren Brown made the most of a powerplay following the on and off ice confrontations before James Ayling rounded off the evening with a strike 17 seconds from time.

So it was once again disappointment in Essex for the Dynamos who were not outclassed as the score line suggests but did fall off of the pace in the last to slip to the 7-1 loss. Man of the match awards went to Michael Ranby of the Chieftains whilst Jack Tarczycki took the spoils for the beleaguered visitors.

Picture supplied by David Trevallion