We are happy to confirm that rich whiting has confirmed that he will play for the chieftains again next year and has agreed to be assistant coach.

In addition a post season testimonial is planned for the chieftains stalwart.

Rich is one of the chieftains all time appearence leaders and continues to perform at a consistent level being a real leader of the team last year.

Rich said "It is great to be a part of the team for yet another season and to be a part of the coaching staff building the team. Deano and I agree that the vast majority of the team will remain from last season and be given the opportunity in what will be a very competitive league. Last year was great fun and I feel that both the management and head coach are took the right steps towards developing a good team for the future. We have a good crop of young players coming through the junior development as could be seen last season and this season will present us with a massive challenge, which I am confident we will rise to."

Steve Goode

The trials for the Warriors will take place on 12th July 2009 from 12.15pm until 2.15pm at Riverside Ice and Leisure centre.

Steve Goode

BT Signs for the Chieftains

The chieftains are pleased to announce that we have registered Nathaniel Williams as part of the Chieftains for the forthcoming season.

Nathaniel, known as "BT" was very loyal to the team last year, and has again showed this loyalty by ignoring the advances of other teams. BT who is a student at Essex University played a different role last year .

Coach Birrell, said “Bt has showed tremendous loyalty to us and is a player of great character and toughness, he has a never say die attitude and really provided a streak to our play last year. BT was one of the first names that we wanted to agree to play for us and i am sure that he will bring the same style and quality of play to the table this coming season”.

Steve Goode

We are pleased to be able to confirm that as the structure of the league is now confirmed, the Warriors will be resurrected and will play in the English national league division 2 south. The Warriors are again part of Chelmsford junior ice hockey club but the finances and running of which are being underwritten by Derek Bartlett in the same way that the chieftains are. As such it is the intention that the Warriors will be a feeder and farm team for the chieftains to ensure the progression link into the chieftains fold. All elements will mimic the Chieftains set up , colours, fundraising etc. This includes an extension of dean Birrell role as head coach for both teams. The intention is to interview a short list of coaches from a list that dean will control to ensure that both teams play in the same way to ensure that once a player makes the leap into division one hockey the fit is seamless. Therefore the Warriors are not being put on the ice to win the league but to gain valuable experience for players coming from the under 18's.

We are also please to confirm that the first division is being expanded to accommodate Haringey and the Isle of Wight raiders. Although Haringey were relegated last year, they retain their status as a division one team by virtue of the absence of a team in division two who were willing to step up. Vectis were elected into division one, but were also unwilling to play within division one and so by unanimous vote by all teams including ourselves the other isle of Wight team, the raiders were elected into division one. We openly lobbied and requested that this occur as it is the correct decision to take. Therefore we are pleased for Wightlink raiders and we are also very happy that the league will now be very competitive indeed in much the same way as the original EPL league was conceived. It has been agreed that the top 6 teams will enter a playoff at the end of the season to decide the eventual division one champions.

So the next big issue is to continue to sign players and get both teams on the ice, in which will be probably the busiest summer in recent memory - all exciting though !!

Derek

Steve Goode

We are pleased the announce the signings of our two defensive rocks. Ben Clements and the return of Andrew Moffatt.

Ben performed admirably last year and shared the number one spot with Mike Robinson. Having made the move from Romford Ben shone as bright as Mikey last year and kept us in many games. Indeed Ben developed the maturity and skills to arguably edge his colleague in some of the more crucial games of the season. We are very pleased to have Ben back, as a Chelmsford boy through and through, a unique talent and we are sure that he will vie heavily for the number one position.

Andy Moffatt returns as a senior player having spent two stints with Chelmsford in the past. We are very pleased to have Andy back with us, he was a first choice in the EPL years and in recent seasons was widely regarded as one of the best British netminders in the EPL. Andy moved back to Scotland at the beginning of last year, but now a father has made the journey south once again. We are very pleased that andy is back with us as he had numerous offers elsewhere, but to his credit he has always stayed very loyal to the management and coaching staff of Chelmsford.

Dean Birrell commented “ Ben performed very well for us last year and split the number one spot with Mikey, and perhaps surprised a few in that his performances were arguably better than Mr Robinson. However it is an issue to only have one high quality netminder for us this year and the loss of Mikey has been smoothed by the welcome return of Andy, who approached us. I have a long history with Andy, who has matured in the past couple of years and I am sure will perform the same heroics that we have seem from him in the past. The netminder position is key for us and we now have two experienced candidates competing for the number one spot.”

Steve Goode

We are pleased to announce the return of coach Birrell for the 2009/10 season following our double triumph last year. On returning to the chieftains, Deano has guided us through an unbeaten league season, setting a team record along the way, the league title and the play off championship.

Dean’s return was sealed the night before the Telford championship game and he has been busy building a team for the new campaign since.

“ I am happy to return, it has been a great ride so far and I am proud of what we have achieved to date. Our aim is to retain the basis of our team, retain our philosophy of Chelmsford based players from the junior set up. As such , just because we have been promoted does not mean that we will go hell for leather to win division one, we want to retain our approach and not get drawn into a spend. Our aim is to finish in the top four this year” confirmed Dean.

Dean has agreed the signing of a number of players already, and we will shortly be confirming these names in the near future.

In summary, our philosophy has not changed, and we continue to run with only minor expenses paid, it is the aim to run a balance at the end of the year. Last year was successful in that respect, and we achieved our financial aims as set out. We will not be competing with the substantial budget’s of other teams in division one but will stick to our guns. We realise that this may cause some consternation amongst supporters, but we see little reason to change things, we want to stick by the players that got us into the first division on the whole. We want to stick by our budget and make minor changes. Our resolve will be tested more this year in many ways, as we wish to continue the junior development into the Chieftains.

Off the ice, we have agreed a number of summer events, we have agreed the principles of the new kit, a third/warm up strip is also planned. In addition we are looking at new entrance song. Donna will shortly issue a press release on player sponsorship (noting that some have already been in touch with how they wish to sponsor). Season tickets will be established following the 6th June league meeting as it looks as though there will be a greater amount of teams in our league this year.

As regards to the Warriors, we have been in a period of uncertainty with this, it remains something that we wish to do, to continue the flow of youth academy players in senior hockey, however there are league structure issues within the junior age groups that may impact on this, so a decision will be made following the AGM.

Continue to have a good summer and watch the blog for more info over and above the releases.

Derek.

Copyright Chelmsford Chieftains 2007