Adam Copland believes the Invicta Dynamos are good enough to go on and win the league after winning their last five games.

After a stuttering start to the season, the Dynamos have been in a rich vein of form of late, beating the Bracknell Hornets 11-0 in the Cup last Saturday before returning to the Silver Blades Ice Bowl in Gillingham to beat the Wightlink Raiders 3-2 in the league.

Those two victories epitomise how far the Dynamos have come in recent weeks with Kevin Parrish’s side playing with renewed freedom and a brand of ice hockey that is delighting the fans.

For Copland, the changes within the side are clear to see and he wants the side to carry on playing as a team:

“It’s been a long time coming this year. It started a bit rocky and defensively we were all over the show in the first few weeks, but in the past few weeks the boys have all come together and really started playing as a unit. It’s onwards and upwards from here and we just want to keep this run going.”

“We’ve had a kick up the arse and when you don’t play as a team you look terrible as individuals, especially in ice hockey. The reason we were so bad before was because we were playing as individuals.”

“Defensively, we weren’t clearing our zone as five guys and when we moved up the ice the D men weren’t following the forwards, so it makes a difference that we are now playing as a unit.”

“We also have a lot of confidence and belief now and since Anthony Leone has come in, he has helped a lot as he is always upbeat, he gets the boys going and I think we needed that.”

The character shown by the side to go on and win the game against the Wightlink Raiders last Sunday is what is different now to the start of the season and Copland was keen to stress how that win should stand them in good stead for the rest of the season:

“Espcecially in the second period when I think we had five guys in the box. It’s tough when it is five on three and you are expected to concede a goal, so it was a real character builder for us and showed a lot of courage from the guys.”

“I fully believe we can end the year top of the league. We certainly have the team to do it, it’s just about consistancy now. We have got to build on this last result and it was Wightlink’s first loss of the year.”

“We’ve got to push on now and keep that run going.”

Finally, Copland was keen to stress how much of a difference having the crowd at Gillingham behind them makes to the Dynamos:

“The fans here are always phenomenal. Win, lose or draw, they’re always behind us and it certainly makes a difference. Compared to all the other rinks around the league, ours is by far the loudest.”

“When we scored the third goal against Wighlink with two minutes left, it was so loud that we couldn’t hear each other out on the ice. It’s fantastic to play here when the atmosphere is like that.”

The Dynamos are back in action again on Sunday night when they face the Peterborough Islanders in the NIHL Southern Cup. Face off at the Silver Blades in Gillingham is 5:15pm.

Picture supplied by David Trevallion