Chelmsford Chieftains started the new year with a bang as they thrashed basement club Cardiff Rage on Sunday at the Riverside Ice & Leisure Centre, and in doing so, they consolidated top spot in the English Premier League.

In front of a good crowd of 700 plus, Chieftains took the lead within a minute if the start when Jon Cotton set Karl Rogers away inside the Cardiff zone to hit a good backhand shot past goalkeeper Greg Rockman.

Against the run of play, the Chieftains' defence, which was without three front line players, were caught square as Craig Metcalf's wayward pass was punished by Wesley Spencer who beat Simon Smith on Rage's first real attempt on goal at 6.17.

At 7.23, Cardiff's Simon Keating was penalised for checking from behind and Chieftains helped themselves to a power-play goal when Pete Morley's blue line pass was smashed in by Andy Hannah at 7.50.

It was all one-way traffic from then on as Chieftains pushed forward with style, and at 9.53, Craig Britton and Metcalf set Duane Ward away and the Canadian scored a fine one-on-one goal to put daylight between the teams.

Chieftains' fourth goal was another power-play effort with Spencer penalised for roughing and after Hannah's shot could only be parried by Rockman, Jamie Randall hit home a fine shot, while off balance.

Rage bounced back at 12.30 when Chieftains could not clear their zone and Neil Francis picked out John Paul Ibrahim alone in front of goal and the young forward made no mistake from two yards out.

The game boiled over on 16.46 as Rage's indiscipline led to a goalmouth brawl after which Chieftains' Ross Mackintosh and Rage's Chris Thomas were ejected from the match.

The other minor penalties from the incident left Chieftains on another power-play and for the third time in the match they took advantage.

At 18.40, Hannah and Darren Cotton contrived to set Jon Cotton away to beat Rockman with a finely worked goal taking Chieftains in 5-1 ahead at the first break.

The second period started with a holding call on Cardiff's Dan Madge, giving Chieftains a further power-play and at 22.23 a cross-ice pass from Billy Price was smashed in by Randall, the further assist going to Hannah.

Although Chieftains dominated the second period, Rage did well to resist their attempts and held firm until 32.15 when the best move of the game gave Chieftains a 6-2 lead.

A fine flowing move between Darren Cotton and Ward set up Hannah coming in from deep to fire home from close in.

A nasty incident at 33.36 saw Dan Oliver collect a six minute penalty for high sticks and roughing leaving Chieftains short-handed.

However at 34.15 Randall's pass was collected by Price who skated through the Rage defence to record a fine short-hander.

Chieftains continued short-handed and at 37.13 Hannah set Ward away to beat Rockman one-on-one to record Chieftains' ninth goal.

The third period started with both teams changing their netminders, Paul Wilcock taking over for Chieftains and Daniel Wood relieving Rockman in the Rage net.

It was Wood who was first in the action, picking the puck from the net at 44.28 after Hannah and Ward's good approach play was finished well by Andrew Clements, the 16 year old striking the puck high past Wood's glove hand.

Chieftains continued to press forward and three goals in just over a minute broke the Rage defiance.

At 50.11. Andy Hannah's slap shot could only be parried by Wood's foot, and Jon Cotton was on hand to mop up the simplest of chances.

Twenty seconds later Clements finished off a good Hannah-Ward move to record his second goal, and at 51.16, a move between Britton and Price ended with Randall completing his hat-trick.

The goal feast was completed at 53.56 after Rage's Ros Wilkinson was thrown out of the game after an attack on Chieftains' Richard Whiting and after good work by Jon Cotton and Price, Randall netted his fourth goal of the match to seal a convincing win.

The new man-of-the-match sponsors, Young's Brewers, first award went to Jamie Randall for his 4+1 tally for Chieftains and for Rage, John Paul Ibrahim, who had shown a more disciplined approach to the game, collected the award.

Chieftains are next in action in a special home challenge match against the Great Britain Under 18 on Saturday.

The match, part of the Millennium celebrations at Riverside Ice & Leisure, is sponsored by Pepsico International, is free entry and will be followed by a free disco skate.

The match faces off at 6pm.

On Sunday, Chieftains travel to Oxford where they resume their Premier League challenge.

At a stretch . . the two players on the right appear to be having their own private battle as Chelmsford Chieftains' Jon Cotton and Cardiff Rage's Richard Townsend vie for possession of the puck in Sunday's English Premier League match at the Riverside Ice & Leisure Centre, Chelmsford.

Picture: LAURA JOHNSON

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.