The Invicta Dynamos got back to winning ways on Saturday night with a 3-1 win at London Raiders.
Invicta made the short journey into London without the services of Grant Baxter, Bailey Wootton, Damien Welch and Adam McNicoll.
The first period started with early penalties on the London Raiders, Bailey Chittock and Rio Grinell-Parke both making visits to the penalty box. Invicta didn’t take advantage of either powerplay but did come close through Andrew Henderson, Ondrej Zosiak and Eriks Ozollapa.
Slightly against the run of play, London took the lead on 11:54 when Tom Davis cut in from the left to shoot past Damien King, Michal Oravec claiming the assist. Michael Gray went on to deny Zosiak once again on 14 minutes as the period looked to end.
However, with 14 seconds of the first period left on the clock, Ondrej Zosiak picked out Nicky Lewis who fired the puck in the middle of the goal area for Jacob Ranson to touch past the diving Gray and equalise for Invicta.
The second period started a tight affair until Josh Condren put the Dynamos 2-1 ahead on 23:31. Conor Redmond played the puck in front of Condren who shimmied to the left and curled his shot over the shoulder of Gray and into the net.
London were down to 3 skaters for a brief period after Frankie Harvey slashed Damien King from behind and Michal Oravec hooked Josh Condren, but Invicta could not capitalise. The penalties were against Invicta shortly afterwards when Nicky Lewis got caught holding and Jacob Ranson for holding an opponent’s stick. Despite being against two extra men for almost two minutes the Invicta defence and Damien King kept the Raiders at bay.
Tempers flared on 37:52. Tom Davis deliberately caught Eriks Ozollapa with the butt of his stick which was missed by Blaine Evans. The outraged Ozollapa then cross checked Davis seconds later before landing on the Raiders captain – Ozollapa then getting a match ban and early shower for his moment of retaliation.
With a third period all to play for it was a tense affair. Dynamos had to defend another 5 on 3 penalty early in the period but nothing was going to beat Damien King again with the form he was showing. At the other end, home netminder Gray had to be alert to prevent David Oliver scoring what could have been a comical own goal on 45 minutes.
Gray was not to be so fortunate soon after, Steve Osman dancing through the Raiders defence with ease and shooting at Gray with the puck hitting the netminder and looping off him and into the net for a shorthanded goal and 3-1 on the board.
Damien King produced the save of the match in the 51st minute, forming a star shape to keep Marek Nahlik at bay. Despite numerous penalties, the Mo’s held firm to wrap-up two vital points.
It was no surprise that Damien King got man of the match, producing a 96.30% save percentage having faced 27 shots and only being defeated once. The home man of the match was awarded to the controversial Tom Davis.
So although Kevin Parrish will be happy with two points on the road, his attentions will now be focused on Sunday’s clash with the Oxford City Stars without the services of the suspended Eriks Ozollapa.