Invicta Dynamos fan Lee Allen looks back at the past few weeks and the joys of doing parkruns in his exclusive blog.
Saturday 7th November
Following the traditional park run (venue being Malling this weekend) it was another trip to Streatham. With both teams having beaten each other in each other’s own rinks it was hard to call how this one would go. The Streatham Redskins were boosted by the signing of Callum Best during the week. Without doubt Callum Best on his day can be the difference in any game and I’m sure many clubs enquired about him once it was announced he was being released from his contract at Guilford.
I normally dislike the drive to Streatham, the approach into London is fine, but the last eight miles or so is normally bumper to bumper along with the odd loony around cutting you up too. Today, surprisingly it wasn’t too bad and me and the family get to the rink with plenty of time to spare.
During the build-up to this game there did seem to be a bit of negativity around, particularly on social media but the players started off like a train and any nerves were soon put to bed as early as the ninth second when Steve Osman tested home netminder Will Sanderson. The Dynamos kept the pressure on and they got rewarded for their effort in the third minute when Steve Osman tucked the puck past Sanderson following hard work from Eriks Ozollapa who claimed the assist.
Unfortunately it only took the home side two minutes to equalise, Kamil Kinkor claiming the goal with assists from Nicky Chinn and Callum Best. Perhaps pass of the night from Steve Osman opened-up the Streatham defence in the 7th minute leaving Ozollapa one on one with Sanderson and making it 2-1 in favour of the visitors. Not prepared to sit back the Dynamos kept attacking at every opportunity and following a face-off in the Streatham zone Ondrej Zosiak and Conor Redmond combined and when Zosiak shot Steve Osman tipped the puck past the diving hand of Sanderson to stretch the lead by two goals.
With the first period edging to a close Streatham’s Jack Tarczycki was penalised for holding which the Dynamos took advantage from with Bailey Wootton feeding Ozollapa who spun on the turn and fired in the fourth Dynamo goal. Barely half a minute later Conor Redmond extended the lead to 5-1 with the Dynamos probably wishing the period would never end. My fingers had to work at double speed to keep updating Twitter at this point (I must admit I missed the build-up to the Redmond goal due to this).
Streatham changed netminders for the second period, Sanderson being replaced for ex-Dynamo David Wride. It was Streatham who started the period stronger, and a Jacob Ranson holding penalty was just the opportunity the Redskins needed when they pulled back a goal in the 26th minute through Joe Johnston. Joe Allen then made it 5-3 in the 34th minute to tee-up an interesting third period.
The travelling Dynamo fans were chewing their finger nails from the 49th minute after Joe Allen scored in a crowded penalty to put Streatham only a goal behind.
Although conscious of being only a goal in front by this point the Mo’s kept attacking at every opportunity and should have scored a sixth goal in the 52nd minute when Bailey Wootton was in the clear one-on-one with Wride but he agonisingly shot wide of the goal. Man of the match Damien King was superb in the Dynamos net and along with his fellow skaters the Dynamos held out to record their second victory at Streatham this season. The only downside was an injury to our captain Nicky Lewis in the first period but it’s always nice to drive home knowing you secured another two league points.
Sunday 8th November
Today was the visit of the London Raiders to Medway. Whilst I’m fully aware of the threat players like Michal Oravec, Marek Nahlik, Liam Chong and Frankie Harvey etc. can fashion, I was unobtrusively assured that we would make this a 4 point weekend.
It’s always good to get an early goal and with 01.24 on the clock, Joshua Condren shot past Michael Gray from the right-hand side for his first in a Dynamos jersey. To be fair, London probably had the better of the play in the first period but on 20.13 Eriks Ozollapa played in Steve Osman who converted past Gray to make it 2-0. The ever impressive Ondrej Zosiak hit a trademark slapshot that soared into the bottom right corner for 3-0. The sturdy Damien King in the Dynamos net saw any hopes of a shutout disappear at 32.14, Liam Chong scoring for 3-1. Dynamo heads didn’t drop however as Bailey Wootton sent Ozollapa clear to make it 4-1 on 32.47.
In the third period Bailey Wootton’s pass inside from wide left found Eriks Ozollopa in front who tapped back to Steve Osman with a one touch pass who made it 5-1. On 45.10 it was 6-1 as the same trio combined superbly again, Bailey Wootton scoring to complete the scoring for the night. One of the last shifts of the night had brothers Bailey, Taylor and Haydn Wootton on the ice together for the first time in a Mos jersey. Damien King picked-up his second man of the match award in two days, demonstrating what a good capture he could end-up being this season.
Saturday 14th November
The Dynamo fans were out in force running the park run today, venue being Leybourne Lakes and…Norwich. At Leybourne, myself, Nicola Allen and Brendon Davey all recorded personal best times over 5k (mine was 27:43) and Sasha Davey finished with a decent time despite carrying an injury. Over in Norwich, Steve Wolfe also PB’d so a good performance by all.
The ice hockey would take us to Oxford this weekend. Oxford have shaped some eye catching results this season, including being the only team to beat the Chelmsford Chieftains. The traffic on the M25 and M40 was not too bad, albeit it didn’t stop raining all the way there.
The thing with blogs, you should be honest in what you write, and I can only say that the Dynamos were not at the races tonight, and were second best to Oxford. Unsurprisingly Kevin Parrish tweeted something very similar.
We were still missing Adam McNicoll and Nicky Lewis through injury, both are big players for us this season and I think with Adam being away for so long it shows how useful he to the team with his versatility and reading of the game.
The first period was hard work for the watching fans and although Josh Condren tested netminder Long within the first two minutes, it was then Arran Strawson who would next test him in the third and eighth minute. For Oxford, Joe Edwards and Josh Florey both tried to make King sweat in the Invicta goal but the game was lacking a spark in the opening ten minutes.
On 13:59, Nick Oliver broke clear of Andrew Henderson and shot straight at the Dynamos crossbar and luckily the puck fell the right side of King’s line for no goal – despite Oxford claims for a goal. Literally seconds later Oxford scored to open the scoring through a Shane Moore drive from distance. The Dynamos were also not helped with Eriks Ozollapa missing almost 15 minutes of the first period due to a broken skate.
Oxford started the brighter in the second period and went ahead after only 17 seconds of the restart when Joe Edwards fed Darren Elliott who cut inside of Strawson and shot beyond the diving Damian King. The goal was perhaps the spark the Dynamos needed and when Eriks Ozollapa picked-up the puck in the middle of the ice he sent a cutting pass through two Oxford defenders which Bailey Wootton connected to and beat Shannon Long to make it 2-1 on 21:46.
Controversy broke in the 23rd minute. Jack Lee blocked an incoming Oxford shot with his ankle and went down in agony, Damien King moved his goal off the line to stop play so Lee could get treatment – and received a two minute penalty for delay of game. The resulting powerplay worked well for Oxford and they scored seconds later through Boris Ruzicka. Despite the call going against the Mo’s they didn’t let their heads drop and Shannon Long had to make saves from Strawson, Henderson, Redmond, Zosiak and Ozollapa, whilst Steve Osman also shot just wide.
With all to play for in the third period, the Dynamos didn’t really get going and eight shots at goal really told the story. To add more misery a fourth goal for Oxford came on 55:54 through Mike Whillock. Man of the match went to Connor Redmond for the Dynamos whilst netminder Shannon Long picked-up the awards for the host following his 96.97% save record.
A two hour drive home on the back of a defeat always seems to take longer and when I do get home at just gone midnight I submit my match report hoping that we turn things around on Sunday.
Sunday 15th November
Today is the visit of Milton Keynes Thunder. In Jamie Line they have a forward I very much admire. He is quick, reads the game well and will get goals all season. At the other end of the ice pad, MK have replaced Damien King with Estonian netminder Villem-Henrik Koitmaa who has seven senior World Championships and two Olympic qualifiers behind him.
The Dynamos were defending a powerplay due to an Arran Strawson hooking penalty, and within 40 seconds of the powerplay Harrison Goode put the Thunder ahead. It was 2-0 not long afterwards, Tom Mboya scoring whilst Arran Strawson was fighting with Tom Castle, Strawson claiming the win.
Eriks Ozollapa hit the MK crossbar before the first period interval but the fans had to wait until the 28th minute for the Dynamos to claw a goal back, through Andy Henderson shot from distance beyond Villem-Henrik Koitmaa. Barely enough time to blink and danger man Jamie Line increased the score to 3-1 in favour of MK.
Knowing how important it was to score next, the Dynamos made it 3-2 with Steve Osman scoring and the assist coming from Ozollapa. Distressingly a moment to forget for Arran Strawson when not clearing the puck out of the danger zone led to Ryan Coffey scoring before the break for 4-2.
The Dynamos put in a great last period. Bailey Wootton set-up a tight finish when he got the score back to a single goal difference at 4-3 in the 42nd minute. Less than a minute later the sides were level when Eriks Ozollapa scored following good assist work by Connor Redmond.
Against the run of play in the third period, Jamie Line claimed his second goal of the night in the 52nd minute for 5-4. The Dynamos then nailed it back to 5-5 through another Ozollapa goal.
An MK penalty gave the Dynamos a man advantage near the end of the game and following two timeouts play resumed with Ondrej Zosiak belting a cracking winning goal with only 73 seconds left in the game for precious victory for the Dynamos.
I’m glad they won, my daughter (Lucy-Marie) celebrated her 12th birthday by being the puck sponsor. As ever, she chose Grant Baxter to hand her the puck, she has always had a soft spot for the Dynamos veteran.
After the game it was birthday cake in the bar (except me) to celebrate a 12th birthday and two points.