Chieftains 3, Wightlink Raiders 5
COMING into this game off the back of a slightly unexpected 2-2 draw on the Island 24 hours before, both sides knew what this game meant to them.
It really was 'Winner takes all' and sadly for the Essex side, that winner would come from Hampshire.
Rejuvenated defenceman Danny Wright was found at the back door after some nice work from Jerry Pavlus and Wright slotted home with comfortable ease on 3:51. It was also right in front of the noisy Raiders fans, which silenced them for a few minutes.
That was until at the other end a powerful shot from the blueline by Damon Larter flew past Ben Clements in the Chieftains net to tie the game up, while the Raiders were on a powerplay.
Pavlus netted the Chieftains’ second goal on 8:36 with a wonderful wrist shot from the circle which beat Toby Cooley at his near post. Clements made amends minutes later with an outstanding save to deny the Raiders and in doing so set up an attack which saw Richard Whiting storm down the other end and his shot just went wide after hitting the pipework.
Things were heating up and threatened to boil over at 18:14 when a big scrum in front of the Chieftains net ensued after a nasty hit from a Raiders player on the Chieftains goalie resulted in lots of pushing and shoving. Wright almost made it 3-1 just before the interval, but was denied by the Raiders defensive line.
The large crowd didn't have long to wait in the second period for the home side to go 3-1 up Wright made no mistake with a skate down the wing and fired into the top corner again, after a pass from Sean Easton. The home fans knew that the team had one eye on the final now but a slight slip in concentration allowed Danny Hughes to have space to fire home the Raiders second goal.
The action was non-stop with both sides' main agitators, Cornish and Novak, being the centre of most off the puck incidents. Things came to a head though on 33:01 when a push and shove between Novak and Tait, including a high stick from Novak, ended with both players heading for the showers. Novak getting a 5+game for high sticks, while Tait took a 2 minute penalty for holding and a match penalty for the resulting punch on Novak. Tempers were at boiling point now and Pavlus took a big slash from Cornish, from the blindside, on 33:48. 14 seconds later and things did get nasty when a Raiders defenceman hit out at Ross Brears in front of the Raiders net after a bit of a pile up and other players got involved and had to be separated.
Even Raiders goalie Cooley got involved and fired off two punches at Darren Brown while wearing his blocker. This seemed to inspire the Chieftains on and two quick chances, firstly by Brown and then Wright saw Cooley make another two big saves to keep his team in the game.
Just under five minutes into the third period and the Raiders levelled when Tanner netted his third of the weekend after finding space in front of the net. The Raiders knew that a draw wouldn't be enough to get them to the final, whereas it would be for the Chieftains. The Chieftains defended like their lives depended on it, but their hearts were broken on 56:17 when a scramble in front of Clements' net ended with Alex Murray firing home from close range.
The Chieftains threw everything at the Raiders and were looking likely to call Clements off the ice in exchange for another skater when a misplaced pass out of the Chieftains zone found Hughes who squared it to Cornish who fired home an excellent wrist shot to put the Raiders into an unassailable lead.
The last few moments were frantic as Clements left his net and the Chieftains went for broke, but to no avail and the Raiders were celebrating at the final buzzer while the Chieftains were looking forlorn.
Danny Wright and Toby Cooley picked up the man of the match awards on the night.
Speaking shortly after the game Dean Birrell, head coach, said "I don't think the better team on the night won. They had some lucky bounces and breaks, which didn't go our way. We had pretty much a whole line of players missing tonight with Danny Hammond away on holiday, which fell at an awful time, BT Williams suspended and James Ayling away on GB international duty in Poland with the under-18s.
“Losing Blaho Novak midway through the game was also a big blow to the team. We gave it our best shot though and the boys will learn from it. They are far, far under the level of experience that the Raiders have in their team and that perhaps told at the death. However, those Raiders players will have experienced similar in their careers and learned from it and full credit to them for the win.
"If you had to ask me who will win between them and the Bracknell Hornets in the final then it would be a tough one. No-one expected Wightlink to get out of our group, but they've done it with some good results so have a lot of confidence. It should be a good couple of games nonetheless but I think Bracknell will sneak it but only just".