The Invicta Dynamos extended their unbeaten run to five games with a 7-5 win against Oxford City Stars on Sunday night.
Kevin Parrish’s side went into their only game of the weekend on a rich vein of form, but took to the ice without injured netminders Damien King and James Richardson, whilst Steve Osman and Adam McNicoll were missing from the roster.
That meant John Dibble was once again handed a start in goal with eighteen players in all in which to choose from.
It was a fast and frenetic start to the game and it came as no real surprise when the Dynamos opened the scoring inside the first minute. Once again it was import Adam Rehak that showed tremendous stick skills to evade the Oxford defence before slotting the puck home.
Surprisingly it took until the 17th minute for the Dynamos to extend their lead to 2-0 and it was a carbon copy of the first as Rehak went the length of the ice before dumping Oxford’s netminder on his backside.
The second period started much like the first with Dibble called into action time after time, but proved to be stout in his defence and the score was to be 3-0 just into the 26th minute as the home side made full use of a powerplay. The puck came out to import Ondrej Zosiak on the blue line and his powerful shot pinged in off the bar.
Little over a minute later and it was 3-1 as former Wightlink Raiders Jaroslav Cesky and Ben Paynter linked up with the latter tapping home at the near post.
With the crowd beginning to sense they were in for a real treat, the game exploded into life in the 30th minute as Mason Webster and Mike Whillock dropped their gloves with the Dynamos man coming out on top.
Just another minute has passed and it was 4-1, this time Nicky Lewis’ back handed pass found Callum Fowler free at the back post and he slotted home unmarked.
If there was any doubt as to whether the Stars were just going to roll over, that was put to bed in the 33rd minute as Paynter grabbed his second of the night.
Once again, the Dynamos rallied and brought their lead back up to three goals with Ashley Jackson dinking the puck into the roof of the net in the 35th minute.
At 5-2 going into the final period, the Dynamos were guilty of taking their feet off the gas and were made to pay in the 43rd minute as Joe Edwards was allowed too much time and space to score.
Sensing they needed to up their game, the Dynamos made it 6-3 in the 49th minute with Rehak claiming his hat-trick, this time following up a shot from Jackson.
With little over two and a half minutes left in the game, the Stars clawed it back to 6-4 with Whillock clipping home after Dibble was unable to hang on to a barrage of shots.
Needing to pull off a miracle, the Stars opted to pull netminder Tom Annetts with less than ninety seconds on the clock and they were made to pay as Zosiak was able to break clear of his own half before firing into the empty net on 59:03.
There was still time for Oxford to pull one more goal back though as import Joonas Liimatainen rifled home with only 25 seconds left to play. It proved to be academic though and the Dynamos clung on for two vital points that sees them climb to second in the NIHL South, some seven points behind league leaders Chelmsford Chieftains.
On the back of their five game winning streak, the Dynamos will be hoping to make that the magnificent seven ahead of the Christmas break as they head into their final two fixtures of 2016 next weekend.
Kevin Parrish’s side head to bottom of the league Bracknell Hornets on Saturday night before returning to Gillingham on Sunday evening to face local rivals London Raiders with face off at 5:15pm.
To listen to our exclusive interview with Ondrej Zosiak from after the game, click here: