The Invicta Dynamos put on a show as they emphatically thrashed London Raiders 13-3 in the NIHL Southern Cup on Sunday night.

Going into the game Kevin Parrish’s side were licking their wounds after losing 7-4 away to Bracknell Hornets in the league on Saturday evening, but from the off it was evident there wasn’t going to be a repeat of what happended 24 hours earlier.

A renewed sense of optimism swept around the Silver Blades Ice Bowl in Gillingham as the Dynamos breezed into a comfortable lead and never really let the Raiders into the game.

It was a sluggish start from both sides as they sized one another up, but it was the Dynamos that finally got the scoring underway in the tenth minute when Juraj Huska thumped the puck home from the boards.

Two minutes later and record scorer Andy Smith got in on the action as he squeezed the puck home at the far post. Just a minute later and it was 3-0 as captain Anthony Leone slammed home from distance.

If that wasn’t good enough, the Dynamos made it four in the space of four minutes when Steve Osman accepted Huska’s lay off before roofing it into the net.

Penalties for the Dynamos disrupted their scoring with two occassions of being left 5 on 3 and the Raiders finally made it pay in the 19th minute with AJ Smith taking advantage of the powerplay to make it 4-1 at the break.

The second period was delayed as Raiders netminder Michael Gray had clearly picked up an injury and after a while he attempted to make it back onto the ice, taking a tumble to the delight of some.

With the London netminder clearly in distress, the Dynamos showed no sympathy as they made it 5-1 in the 23rd minute as Osman went down the ice and slotted past Gray despite the home side being short handed.

Less than two minutes later and Huska added another to compound the misery on the visiting side and with that it was decided Gray couldn’t continue.

With no back up netminder on the bench, the Raiders took ten minutes to pad up Ross Wilkinson as the fans took an impromptu break.

The Dynamos once again showed no mercy as the second period resumed and it was clear they were going to rain shots down on the inexperienced Wilkinson and he was soon pulling the puck out of the net.

Huska completed his hat-trick in the 26th minute and made it 8-1 with his fourth just two seconds into the 29th with the Dynamos scoring another short handed goal.

Callum Fowler made it 9-1 in the 31st minute as Wilkinson was once again left exposed, but the Raiders man was to pull off some decent saves to keep the score down.

With the game in the bag, Dynamos Head Coach, Kevin Parrish, decided to pull netminder Chris Douglas to have a rest and to give vital ice time to number two Steve Nightingale.

Exactly four minutes later and it was double figures for the Dynamos with Huska grabbing his fifth of the night to make it 10-1 at the break.

Taking a decent reception from the whole crowd, Wilkinson watched on as his side pegged it back to 10-2 in the 42nd minute as AJ Smith scored his second of the night.

Three minutes later and the Dynamos lost Charlie Phillips for the night as the 17 year old reacted to a decision and was removed for misconduct.

With Grant Baxter already off the ice through injury, the Dynamos were fast running out of players, but made it 11-2 in the 51st minute as Mustang Danny Terry fired home.

After another break in play to fix the entrance doors to the ice, the Raiders clawed it back to 11-3 as Vaclav Drabek turned the puck past Nightingale.

Just a minute later and it was 12-3 as Osman scored another to the delight of the home support.

Once again they lost another player as skipper Anthony Leone was sent from the ice, unjustly so, but that didn’t deter them as they rounded off the scoring when Callum Fowler nudged a Terry shot past Wilkinson to cap a great night for the Dynamos.

The decent crowd were certainly given some great entertainment on a night that had many questionable decisions from the two officials and the Dynamos will now look to take that scoring form with them when they head to Streatham in the cup on Saturday night before returning to Gillingham 24 hours later to take on the Solent Devils in the league.

To listen to interviews with Kevin Parrish and Steve Nightingale after the game, click here:

 

 

Picture supplied by David Trevallion.