The Invicta Dynamos claimed the NIHL Southern Cup after an epic battle with Chelmsford Chieftains in the two legged final.

 

It was the Kent side that came out on top, winning the tie 9-7 on aggregate in front of their own fans in Gillingham with a packed crowd in to see the Dynamos claim their first silverware in five years.

The night started with the tie finely balanced at 4-4 after the first leg on Saturday night with the Dynamos having done well to come back from being 3-0 down and they momentum was in their favour.

With fans flocking to the Ice Bowl in their hundreds long before face off, the anticipation was almost unbearable and the home support weren’t to be let down by the team in white.

However, the night didn’t completely go according to the script with the Chieftains looking to put a spanner in the works.

The Dynamos took to the ice without Mark Lee, Frankie Harvey and the suspended Grant Baxter, whilst Billy Phillips made his much anticpated return having served his fourteen game ban and elected to return to playing for the Kent side.

Less than a minute was on the clock when the Dynamos had their first chance of the night, but Juraj Huska was unable to beat Ben Clements in the Chelmsford goal.

No more than a minute had passed and it was the visitors opened the scoring with Julian Smith slamming the puck home past Mark McGill from the blue line.

The Dynamos were to take full advantage of a powerplay in the 6th minute with Callum Fowler rounding off a great move involving Phillips and Andy Smith.

Just over five minutes later and the Dynamos were ahead as Fowler returned the compliment to Smith with the club’s leading scorer tapping home at the far post to make it 2-1 on the night.

Chelmsford thought they had scored in the 16th minute, but it was washed out, although they didn’t have to wait much longer to level with Matt Turner turning the puck home as they broke free from a scrambling Dynamos defence.

At 2-2 going into the second period, it was literally anyone’s game and for a while it looked as though neither side could find the killer blow with penalties disrupting the flow of what was turning into a classic.

The breakthrough finally came in the 30th minute with Fowler grabbing his second of the night with Huska and Peter Beerling claiming the assists.

Going into the final twenty minutes, it was still too hard to call which way the tie would go with Chelmsford fast out of the traps and they made the early pressure tell by clawing it back to 3-3 in the 42nd minute with Darren Brown roofing the puck beyond McGill.

That only served to inspire the vocal Dynamos support ever further and they were on their feet just twelve seconds later when Fowler completed his hat-trick, clipping home from close range.

The final period saw Fowler hit the frame of the goal three times as he agonisingly went close to adding more to his tally, but he didn’t have to wait too long as in the 47th minute he made full use of a powerplay to break free and slot the puck past Clements to make it 5-3 on the night.

In the end that was the way it was to stay with both sides laying their bodies on the line and the fans giving it their all.

The final two minutes saw the Dynamos fans on their feet singing their side home and it all but lifted the roof off the rink.

When the final buzzer sounded, the cheers turned to roars of pure delight as the Dynamos fans and players alike couldn’t believe what had just happened in the 120 minutes of ice hockey.

The Cup was presented by darts legend Andy Fordham and the players rightly took the acclaim from the capacity crowd.

On this showing, many will be back next weekend when the Dynamos begin their play-off assault against the Solent Devils and who would bet against them after this performance?

Main picture supplied by David Trevallion.

To listen to our instant on ice reaction with the players and Kevin Parrish from after the game, click here: