The Invicta Dynamos made history on Sunday night as they beat the Bracknell Bees 6-4 in the English Challange Cup.
Kevin Parrish’s side became the first team from the NIHL South to beat an EPL side in this year’s revamped competition, defying all the odds to beat their classy opponents.
Going into the game, the Dynamos were very much the underdogs and hadn’t been expected to live with the pace of the Bees, but they more than held their own and buoyed by a vocal home support, took the morale boosting win to lift the confidence of all concerned.
The match began with the Dynamos once again without the services of the injured Charlie Phillips and Grant Baxter, whilst import Joonas Liimatainen was still in Finland and netminder Chris Douglas was given a much needed rest.
Parrish also had to send his team onto the ice without new signing Frankie Harvey who had injured his hand the night before and despite trying to warm up, decided against making the injury worse and sat out the game.
With Bradley Gutridge having made the step up from the Mustangs, the determined Dymamos side came out of the traps flying and caught the Bees napping in the first period with it taking just over two minutes to open the scoring.
Making the most of a powerplay, the Dynamos worked the puck around the ice and leading scorer Andy Smith was on hand to turn home the rebound after Tom Annets failed to hold a shot from Arran Strawson.
If that wasn’t enough, just five minutes later and it was 2-0 when Smith turned provider for Juraj Huska with the pair breaking free down the ice and the import turned the puck home.
With the crowd now on their feet and the atmosphere building, the Dynamos looked to settle, but the Bees came back at them hard and clawed a goal back in the ninth minute with Samuel Waller’s strike deflecting off Matthew Foord and past a stranded Mark Lee in the Dynamos goal.
The Dynamos responded well and struck the post and the bar either side of the break and on another day could have extended their lead, but the Bees drew level in the 33rd minute with Lewis Turner beating Lee at his near post.
Going into the final period all square at 2-2, both sets of fans couldn’t have expected what was to happen in the next twenty minutes with the Dynamos icing with real purpose and composure.
They raced into a 5-2 lead with Callum Fowler making it 3-2 just 78 seconds into the period and exactly a minute later Billy Phillips stepped up from the blue line to lash the puck home.
With the fans daring to believe the impossible was going to happen, the Dynamos extended their lead to three in the 46th minute as Smith claimed his second of the night after a fierce strike from Phillips.
The Dynamos knew a response would come from the Bees and it came in the last few minutes, pegging it back to 5-3 in the 57th minute when Ryan Watt turned in rebound and with just 39 seconds left on the clock it was 5-4 when Radek Hubacek crossed the blue line before firing home.
After a brief time out and both sides looking at how they would play those remaining 39 seconds, the Bees ultimately pulled their netminder looking to get something out of the game, but all it served to do was leave space at the back and after some great work by the Dynamos, the puck fell kindly to Smith who claimed his hat-trick with just three seconds left on the clock.
Cue the pandemonium amongst the Dynamos support as they celebrated the most remarkable of victories for their side.
Having withstood so much pressure, Mark Lee was rightly awarded the man of the match for the Dynamos whilst Ivan Antonov took the honour for the visiting side.
This win could prove to be the springboard for the Dynamos for the rest of the season and next weekend they must turn their attention back to the league with a visit to Cardiff NIHL Devils on Saturday night before returning to Gillingham on Sunday evening to face Milton Keynes Thunder.
To listen to interviews with Kevin Parrish and Mark Lee from after the game, click here: