Chelmsford Chieftains have been officially crowned the English Premier Ice Hockey League Champions.

They were given the trophy by EIHA chief Bill Britton after they had comfortably disposed of Invicta Dynamos in their last league match on Sunday.

Chieftains saw their incredible run of consecutive victories extend to 18 games in a streak which stretches back to December 5.

The Chieftains fell behind to an early goal. Forced to reshuffle because of injuries to Carl Greenhous and Karl Rogers and with Paul Wilcock in goal for the suspended Simon Smith, Chieftains failed to stop a quick Invicta raid and Mikko Skinnari powered his shot past Wilcock at 1.30.

Chieftains were quick to get back on terms after a brilliant passing move involving Duane Ward and Andy Hannah left Darren Cotton to swipe the puck home at 2.12.

With Jamie Randall making an unexpectedly early return after a bad injury that looked like ending his season three weeks ago, the third line of Randall, Billy Price and Richard Whiting looked back to its best and all three were involved in Chieftains' second goal at 3.56 when Price's lay off was smashed in by Whiting.

With Price penalised for hooking, Dynamos struck back quickly with a 'soft' goal when Wilcock looked to have Skinnari's shot covered at the post but saw the puck squeeze through his guard at 5.35.

Invicta were forced to play under-19 goalkeeper Ian Rawlings, through injury and suspension to their first two goalies, and therefore both teams had inexperienced rearguards.

However once both had settled they did well to quell the opposing forwards for the majority of the first period.

Chieftains restored their lead at 18.08 when Rawlings pulled off two good stops from Darren Cotton but was unable to stop Ward following up to score.

Dynamos refused to 'lie down' and with just 35 seconds left on the first period clock, Mike Kindred's and Henrik Schonberg's good approach work was finished in style with a fine slap-shot from Phil Chard.

Chieftains started the second period the better and forced Rawlings into several good saves in the first few minutes.

It was no surprise when Chieftains took the lead on 25.47 when Craig Metcalf's shot was only partially blocked by Rawlings and Jon Cotton, following up, snapped in the rebound.

Again this topsy-turvy match was levelled when, within a minute, Dave Stevens and Skinnari worked the play well to leave Kyle Dolman to bury the puck in at 26.53.

It was the last time that Dynamos were to be in contention as Chieftains 'turned up the wick'.

They regained the lead a when a Ward shot bobbled in the air and was 'swatted' in by Hannah.

It was the 'first line' again who gave Chieftains a two goal cushion when Darren Cotton forced his way through to squeeze the puck past Rawlings.

The game was effectively won at 34.57 when Ward powered across the goalmouth and fired his spot into the roof of the net.

Chieftains finished the period with a comfortable 7-4 lead.

The home side introduced their younger players into the fray in the final period and all made good impressions as Chieftains continued to press forward.

They went further ahead at 44.54 with Ward's hat-trick goal, a superbly struck shot on the back-hand.

A penalty on Dynamos' Mike Dumka gave Chieftains a rare power-play and they made the man advantage tell when, after playing the puck around the zone, Hannah was on hand to score his second goal.

Chieftains went into double figures at 51.59 when Ward capped a superb performance, by laying the puck in for Jon Cotton to find the net.

Chieftains replaced Wilcock with Carl Ambler, 14, at 53.58, but the youngster had no chance as Dolman reduced the deficit with a slap-shot on a power-play.

Invicta continued to press forward and netted their sixth goal at 56.44, Dolman completing his hat-trick, leaving Chieftains 10-6 winners.

On a night of many presentations, the Mayor of Chelmsford, Cllr Michael Mackrory, was on hand to present the Youngs man-of-the-match awards to the effervescent Billy Price for Chieftains and to Ian Rawlings for Invicta.

Chieftains fans were then treated to the sight they had waited eight years for when captain Jake French hoisted the Premier League trophy aloft.

The match result meant that Dynamos become Chieftains' play-off semi-final opponents in this weekend's important home and away ties, while in the other tie, Swindon Chill play the Isle of Wight Raiders.

Chieftains' tie in Kent tomorrow (Saturday) will face-off at 4.15pm and the teams meet again in the return leg at Riverside Ice & Leisure on Sunday, face-off 6.30pm.

On the attack: Chelmsford Chieftains' Kevin Conway (no. 16) fires in a shot in Sunday's English Premier League match against the Invicta Dynamos at Riverside Ice & Leisure Centre.

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