Canadian Justin Noble made it five goals in three outings on Sunday as his brace, alongside efforts from Andy Smith, Joe Bliss, Sam Cheema and Peter Vaisanen, helped the Dynamos overcome the Bracknell Hornets 6-3 in the NIHL South Division 1.

In the opening frame the hosts flew out of the blocks and they were ahead within the first minute when Peter Vaisanen found Andy Smith between the faceoff circles and the Dynamos captain lashed low into the far corner beyond goalie Chris Douglas for the 1-0 edge. Midway through and that advantage was then two as the second line trio combined effectively, Justin Noble behind the net teeing up Joe Bliss for the point blank finish on the back stick that made it 2-0.

Looking in danger of falling out of the tie in just the first period, the visitors then rallied and they struck twice in the space of three minutes to restore parity. The Dynamos were guilty of posing their own problems for the first of the pair when, having coughed up numerous chances to clear the play from the edge of their own crease, they allowed Liam Doyle to steal a march and rifle beyond a grounded Andy Moffat after a drawn out goalmouth scramble. The second was a similar defensive headache as Carl Thompson’s cross ice pass along the goal line from the left boards gifted an unmarked Danny Hughes the simplest of tap-ins on the back post to tie it up at 2-2.

However, Bracknell’s resurgence only served to push the Dynamos up through the gears and the hosts responded to the support of the home crowd to finish the frame 4-2 to the good. Five minutes from the buzzer, Callum Best’s centring pass from the left channel was greeted by a rocket of a one-timer from Justin Noble in the middle that would see the puck find the roof of the net beyond Chris Douglas. Moments later and the Canadian then doubled up with a strike completely of his own making as he robbed the Bracknell rear guard in their own zone, skipped in off of the right boards and lashed just inside the far upright for the 4-2 lead after twenty minutes.

In the second period the Dynamos continued to have the better of the play but almost gifted the Hornets a route back into the tie as a sloppy line change saw Danny Hughes escape on the breakaway only for netminder Andy Moffat to disappoint the hard hitting forward. A crunching open ice hit by Nathaniel Rose on Liam Doyle then saw the intensity step up a notch and the hosts used this to their advantage as they went on to claim their fifth of the night. Brad Watchorn found Sam Cheema on a foray forward and his play to the crease from the left side seemed to elude goalie Chris Douglas who might have been expecting the puck to receive another touch from the on-rushing forwards looking to crash his net. Minutes later and the Dynamos then followed Cheema’s first ever senior goal with a sixth of the night that put them four in front. Peter Vaisanen’s cross-ice pass from deep left was deftly controlled on the right post by Callum Fowler, with the young forward skilfully using his backhand to steer the puck over the line at point blank range with the netminder scrambling in his direction.

Facing a 6-2 deficit heading into the last, Bracknell had it all to do with just twenty minutes sitting on the clock but they started the final frame the better of the sides and could have netted early on had Tom Fisher not spurned an excellent two-on-one opportunity. They took their chance midway through however, when another Fisher effort from close left rebounded to Carl Thompson right in front with the former Slough skater making no mistake to take the score to 6-3. Even after the breakthrough though, the Hornets failed to add any more to their tally despite Grant Rounding slipping through the Dynamos’ rear guard on a breakaway as shot stopper Andy Moffat made a fine glove stop from close range to keep the hosts in a commanding lead. Come the final buzzer then it finished 6-3 to the home side who had made it two in two in league competition with their second win of the new campaign.

So it was a comfortable victory come the close of the night and one that featured both reasons to feel positive and matters to be tackled in upcoming training sessions. In just the second weekend of the new campaign, results are all that matter however, with the team set to improve through familiarity as the calendar pages turn. Man of the match awards on the night went to hard hitting forward Nathaniel Rose of the Dynamos whilst the determined Carl Thompson took the spoils for the visitors.

Picture supplied by David Trevallion