N-ice points return as Streatham produce back-to-back weekend wins

BY CHRISTOPHER BEAL

Streatham claimed a four-point haul last weekend with wins over two of their main title rivals in NIHL 1 South.

First the produced a 6-0 win on home ice on Saturday night over Chelmsford Chieftains before a 2-1 win at Invicta Dynamos.

Homegrown talent Harvey Briggs netted the opening goal on Saturday – and his first at the High Road – after 12 minutes with Luke Brittle and Ziggy Beesley providing the set-up play.

Two minutes later Briggs and Beesley teed up Brittle.

Sam Waller extended their advantage after the break with Beesley and Brittle again the creators..

Player-coach Ben Paynter and Josh Ealey-Newman claimed the assists when Waller added his second of the evening.

The Chieftains did not go quietly as Grant Bartlett squared off for a fight with Paynter to start the third period.

Bartlett got the takedown in the scrap but it did not spark a comeback as Streatham further extended their lead on 48 minutes.

Briggs added his second of the game, Danny Ingoldsby and Ben Ealey-Newman assisting.

Ziggy Beesley wrapped up the scoring in the 58 minutes. Josh Martin and Jared Lane had provided the set-up, slotting the puck around netminder Dominic Rae.

Rae collected the man of the match beers for the visitors and put in a defiant performance to hold the RedHawks to only six goals.

Waller, with his two goals and a dominant defensive performance, took home man of the match for Streatham.

The South Londoners then produced a hard-fought 2-1 win in Medway, that could have gone a different way had two home goals not been disallowed.

Jordan Gregory and Brittle netted for Streatham. Danny Milton was Streatham’s man of the match.

Paynter was pleased with his team’s performance on Saturday. He said: “It was far better than last week, a night-and-day difference. Everyone turned up, put their bodies on the line and bought in.

“We played honest and in the right way. I don’t want us cheating, we have our success from playing the right way and sticking to systems.

“Going into the third I didn’t want the team to park the bus at 4-0. I had to ask the guys to tighten the back end up a bit to help Danny Milton, but I still wanted us to take it to them all the way until the end.”

Captain Ziggy Beesley said: “I feel we got into good habits. We’ve been trying to do that in the last few weeks and we’ve been training hard – it was nice to see it pay off in a game.

“We kept good habits on Saturday and that helped Danny Milton get the shutout. Chelmsford are so dangerous and have a lot of firepower, so we always knew we had to keep our guard up.”

Streatham wrap up November on home ice against Romford Buccaneers tomorrow (face off 6.45pm).