The Invicta Dynamos unbeaten run came to an end on Saturday night with defeat to the Oxford City Stars.
The Dynamos had to make do without the services of injured pair Adam McNicoll and Nicky Lewis along with Haydn Wootton, Taylor Wootton and Grant Baxter.
This was also the first time Steve Osman faced the Oxford City Stars since departing for the Dynamos.
The first period was hard work for the watching fans and although Josh Condren tested netminder Long within the first two minutes, it was then Arran Strawson who would next test him in the third and eighth minute. For Oxford, Joe Edwards and Josh Florey both tried to make King sweat in the Invicta goal but the game was lacking a spark in the opening ten minutes.
On 13:59, Nick Oliver broke clear of Andrew Henderson and shot straight at the Dynamos crossbar and luckily the puck fell the right side of King’s line for no goal – despite Oxford claims for a goal. Literally seconds later Oxford scored to open the scoring through a Shane Moore drive from distance. The Dynamos were also not helped with Eriks Ozollapa missing almost 15 minutes of the first period due to a broken skate.
Oxford started the brighter in the second period and went ahead after only 17 seconds of the restart when Joe Edwards fed Darren Elliott who cut inside of Strawson and shot beyond the diving Damian King. The goal was perhaps the spark the Dynamos needed and when Eriks Ozollapa picked-up the puck in the middle of the ice he sent a cutting pass through two Oxford defenders which Bailey Wootton connected to and beat Shannon Long to make it 2-1 on 21:46.
Controversy broke in the 23rd minute. Jack Lee blocked an incoming Oxford shot with his ankle and went down in agony, Damien King moved his goal off the line to stop play so Lee could get treatment – and received a two minute penalty for delay of game. The resulting powerplay worked well for Oxford and they scored seconds later through Boris Ruzicka. Despite the call going against the Mo’s they didn’t let their heads drop and Shannon Long had to make saves from Strawson, Henderson, Redmond, Zosiak and Ozollapa, whilst Steve Osman also shot just wide.
With all to play for in the third period, the Dynamos didn’t really get going and eight shots at goal really told the story. To add more misery a fourth goal for Oxford came on 55:54 through Mike Whillock. Man of the match went to Connor Redmond for the Dynamos whilst netminder Shannon long picked-up the awards for the host following his 96.97% save record.