It was a tough night on the road for the Invicta Dynamos as they went down 6-2 at Chelmsford Chieftains.
The Dynamos travelled to the Riverside in Essex minus the services of the injured Adam McNicoll and Bailey Wootton, whilst Grant Baxter, Haydn Wootton and Damien Welch also failed to make the roster.
The first period opened with both teams attempting to stretch the play across the ice pad and it was Chelmsford first on the scoresheet. Matt Turner had a simple tap-in for the opening goal after Danny Hammond squared the puck across the Invicta goal to the unmarked Turner, leaving Damien King no chance.
Invicta were soon level however. Eriks Ozollapa was on the receiving end of a hook from Andrius Kaminskas which gave the Dynamos a powerplay. From the resulting face-off Ondrej Zosiak was found in space by Steve Osman who in turn found Nicky Lewis to strike the equaliser. A couple of minutes later and Eriks Ozollapa put Invicta into a 2-1 lead with a thunderous shot past Clements left shoulder, Arran Strawson and Josh Condren claiming assists.
The Dynamos tried in vain to hold the lead going into the 1st period break but when Harrison Lillis was penalised for holding by the two man referee system of Nick Stephenson and Stefan Hogarth with three minutes remaining it left the Dynamos defending a powerplay which Cameron Bartlett took benefit from to score from distance and leave both teams going into the second period tied at 2-2.
The second period was more a period of frustration if anything for Kevin Parrish’s side. The puck was in the wrong end of the ice pad most of the period and Matt Turner’s second goal of the game on 20:59 and a further goal from ex-Dynamo Danny Hammond (36:27) increased the home sides lead to 4-2. Invicta only recorded seven shots on goal in the second period, Eriks Ozollapa making the best opportunity when he robbed the puck from Julian Smith but after carrying the puck towards Clements he fired over the bar.
With all to play for in the third period it was again frustration for the Dynamo fans. Chelmsford went on to chalk a further two goals on the board through Juraj Huska (47:34) and captain Julian Smith (56:31) to give the home side a comfortable 6-2 victory. Josh Condren went close for the Dynamos in the third period but his shot hit the goal frame.
Man of the match awards went to Damien King for the Dynamos, with King walking away with an 86.67% save percentage having faced 45 shots at goal. For the hosts, goal scorer and captain Julian Smith collected the beers.