Lee Valley Lions

After a summer of upheaval at the club, the Lee Valley Lions started the new season away from home as they faced last season’s fourth placed side and playoff finalists, the Chelmsford Chieftains.

The Lions iced 11 skaters for the game with forwards Tom Hnilica, Nicky Brathwaite and Joe Miller all unavailable. Debuts were handed to James O’Brien, Jordan Sullivan and Joe Trotter; while Michael Jacobs, Joe Berry, Jack Ball and Joe Weare all returned to the club after a varying number of years away. The line-up was completed by player-coach James Joseph, captain Simon Jones, and forwards Ben Gillingham and Ollie Glover – all of whom are staying on from last season. Starting in net was Steve Grout, another returnee after two seasons away, while James Andrew backed up.

The Chieftains iced 12 skaters including former Lions forward TJ Fillery. Starting in goal was Sonny Phillips with another former Lion, James Tipple, backing up for the home side.

1st Period: The Chieftains caught the visiting side cold early on with a couple of goals, first Fillery (1:43, assisted by Ross Brears and Jake Luton) scoring against his former club and then James Ayling (5:45, assisted Brears) doubling the lead. Chelmsford then had a few more chances but Grout in the Lions net made some impressive saves to keep the score at 2-0.

The Lions grew into the period as it progressed, creating a few chances of their own; Joe Berry forced Sonny Phillips into a sharp save and Michael Jacobs shot inches wide from a good position. Unfortunately for the Lions, the Chieftains caught them on the break to go 3-0 up through Ayling (9:52, assisted Bradley Moore and Brears).

Shortly afterwards, the Lions had some 5-on-3 powerplay time with both Fillery and James Dimond in the box, but could not convert. However the Lions grabbed their first goal of both the game and the season a few minutes later as Simon Jones (15:45, assisted Joe Berry) celebrated his first game as club captain with a neat finish, after industrious work behind the Chieftains net by Berry. The remainder of the period was back and forth, with both Berry and Jacobs going close to grabbing another goal, but the period ended with the Chieftains 3-1 up.

2nd Period: The hosts came out energetically in the second period, peppering the Lions net with shot after shot as they looked to extend their lead. Three minutes into the period, that pressure paid off as Bradley Moore (23:00, assisted Ayling and Brears) tucked a rebound home past Grout to make it 4-0.

The Lions then hit penalty trouble – they would take eight minor penalties in the period in total – with both Jack Ball and Ben Gillingham being sent to the penalty box. This gave Chelmsford a 5-on-3 PP that they were able to convert, Courtney Grant (25:30) scoring an unassisted goal to make it 5-1. And with just three seconds left in Gillingham’s penalty, the Chieftains struck again through Charlie Phillips (26:47, assisted Ayling and Brears) who increased the lead to 6-1. This was the end of the night for Grout, who was replaced in the Lions net by James Andrew. Despite conceding six goals, it was a strong performance by the veteran netminder in his first start for over two years.

The Lions took three more penalties in the next five minutes (one against Jordan Sullivan and two against Ball) and, while they were able to kill them off, the effort it took out of the short-benched visitors started to show shortly afterwards as the Chieftains went 7-1 up through a short-handed goal by James Dimond (33:38, assisted Moore).

The Lions impressively killed off a 5-on-3 with both Joe Berry and James O’Brien in the box, however this further wore them out; and it wasn’t a surprise when Chelmsford scored two more goals before the period ended to make it a 9-1 game. Both goals had the same make-up: Brears (assisted Ayling and Will Polston), with one goal coming during a 4-on-4 period of play and the other coming on the powerplay. To make matters worse for the Lions, young blueliner James O’Brien was injured towards the end of the second period and didn’t ice again, leaving the Lions with just ten skaters.

3rd Period: The Chieftains were relentless in the third period, not letting up at all despite the high scoreline and the tiring opposition. Within the first 90 seconds of the period they had added two more goals to go 11-1 up, first Moore (41:02, assisted Brears and C. Phillips) and then Grant (41:25, assisted Fillery and Luton) doing the damage.

Two Chieftains players would then complete hat-tricks within a few minutes of each other as the home side increased the score to 13-1; Grant (46:41, assisted Moore and Dimond) was the first to do so with a shorthanded goal, and Moore (48:52, assisted Brears) followed him not too long afterwards.

The Lions then held out for the next 11 minutes without conceding any more, with James Andrew making some great saves as he tried his best to stop the home side getting any more goals. Cruelly with just 21.2 seconds left in the game, the Chieftains put the icing on the cake with their 14^th of the night, Charlie Phillips (59:32, unassisted) smashing a shot past Andrew to complete the scoring. Nonetheless, Andrew was named as Lions’ Man of the Match for stopping 47 of 55 shots he faced, with 37 of those shots coming in the last period alone.

GAME STATS

Final Score: Chelmsford Chieftains 14-1 Lee Valley Lions

Period Scores: 3-1/6-0/5-0

Shots: Chelmsford Chieftains 90-16 Lee Valley Lions (26-7/27-4/37-5)

Penalty Minutes: Chelmsford Chieftains 14-20 Lee Valley Lions

Scorers: Chelmsford – Ross Brears 2+7, Bradley Moore 3+3, Courtney Grant 3+2, James Ayling 2+2, Charlie Phillips 2+1, TJ Fillery 1+1, James Dimond 1+1, Will Polston 0+2, Jake Luton 0+2

Lee Valley – Simon Jones 1+0, Joe Berry 0+1

Goaltenders: Chelmsford – Sonny Phillips (31:36 played, 8 shots/1 goal against); James Tipple (28:24 played, 8 shots/0 goals against)

Lee Valley – Steve Grout (27:15 played, 35 shots/6 goals against); James Andrew (32:45 played, 55 shots/8 goals against)

Man of the Match – James Andrew (Lee Valley), Courtney Grant (Chelmsford)

The Lions lining up for their first game of the season, away to Chelmsford.

The Lee Valley Lions are delighted to announce the next addition to our 2018-19 roster, as forward Joe Miller signs on.

17-year-old Miller played three games for the senior Lions side last season, scoring an assist against Basingstoke in just his second ever senior game.

Prior to that, Joe came through the ranks in the Lee Valley junior system, captaining both the Under 15 side in 2015-16 and then the Under 18s last season.

Joe was the joint-leading points scorer for the U18s in the 2016-17 campaign, as he tallied seven goals and 13 assists for 20 points. Last season he led the U18 side in scoring with six goals and two assists for eight points.

Now he is ready to make the next step in his career as he signs up for his first full senior season. Joe will wear the #3 jersey for the Lions this season.

Click here to view Joe’s career statistics courtesy of eliteprospects.com.

The Lee Valley Lions have completed their goaltending tandem for the new season with the addition of Steve Grout, who returns to the club after two years away.

Grout first joined the club in 2011 following a number of years with the Invicta Mustangs, as well as spells at the Chelmsford Warriors and Invicta Dynamos. In his first season as a Lion in 2011-12, Grout played 17 games between the pipes with a goals against average of 5.05 – and was voted as the club’s Leading Goalie at the end-of-season awards.

Steve started the following season with the Lions before switching to the Romford Fury during the season, and then played the 2013-14 season with the Basingstoke Buffalo.

He returned to the Lions in 2014-15, and served as back-up to starting netminder James Tipple over the next two campaigns.

Steve has now signed up with the Lions for the new season, and will provide goaltending competition for James Andrew between the pipes.

Click here to view Steve’s career statistics courtesy of eliteprospects.com.

Goaltender Steve Grout returns to the Lions to provide goaltending competition for James Andrew.

The Lee Valley Lions can announce the next returnee to their roster for the 2018-19 season, as veteran forward Nicky Brathwaite comes back to the club after eight seasons away.

Leyton-born Brathwaite started his career with the original Lions way back in 1993, playing the final two seasons of the club’s existence in the old British Division 1 before the club folded in 1995. During this time he played 41 games, scoring one assist.

He then spent two seasons at Haringey in 1997-98 and 2004-05, after which he returned to the Lions when the club reformed in 2005. He played the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons with the Lions, playing a total of 34 games and scoring ten points (three goals and seven assists).

Nicky also played three games with the Lions at the start of the 2009-10 season before moving to the Romford Fury, where he spent the last two seasons of his career to date.

The wily veteran now returns to league hockey after seven years out of the game, and will hope to use his experience to help a new-look Lions squad move forward.

Click here to view Nicky’s career statistics courtesy of eliteprospects.com.

Veteran forward Nicky Brathwaite returns to the club after eight seasons away.

The Lee Valley Lions have added another defenceman to their roster for the 2018/19 season, as hard-hitting Joe Weare returns to the club for a third spell.

A former Romford and Chelmsford junior, the well-travelled Weare has also played in Finland as well as playing for the Streatham Redskins/Bruins, Slough Harrier Hawks and Romford Fury in ENL and ENL2.

Joe made his Lions debut in the 2014/15 campaign, playing 10 games and collecting 16 penalty minutes. He returned in 2016/17 after a year out of the game, pulling on a Lions jersey in six games, before again taking some time away from the sport.

He is now back at the Den and ready to help the team this season by bringing physicality and experience to the blueline.

Click here to see Joe’s career statistics courtesy of eliteprospects.com.

Defenceman Joe Weare returns for his third spell with the Lions (Photo © Phil Hutchinson)