Two victories over the weekend made it five in a row for the Invicta Dynamos leaving Head Coach Kevin Parrish delighted for his side.
The Dynamos followed up Saturday’s emphatic 11-0 win over the Bracknell Hornets in the NIHL Southern Cup with a late 3-2 win at the Silver Blades Ice Bowl in Gillingham over the Wightlink Raiders in NIHL South Division One.
Parrish’s side had been leading 2-0 on Sunday night through goals from Peter Vaisanen and Justin Noble only to see the visitors claw it back to 2-2.
However, with just over a minute left on the clock, Vaisanen pounced to score his second of the game to leave the crowd in raptures and Parrish thrilled with his side:
“My heart has been in my mouth of late, but all season we have dug deep. Whether we have come away with a loss, or whether we have come away with a win, we’ve never given up.”
“Some guys are really coming into form of late and it’s nice that we’re really playing as a team. Everyone is digging deep and it’s nice that we could close out the win.”
“We nearly went back to our old ways and we began to panic when it was 2-2, so I had to call a time-out, freshen it up a bit and remind ourselves as to how good we have been.”
Refereeing decisions almost cost the Dynamos as they were penalised time and time again leaving Parrish keen to talk about anything other than the officials:
“Let’s not talk about the referees after a great win for the side. It’s a win and we will celebrate it and make sure we keep them momentum going into next week.”
“Whether you win a game 1-0 or 100-0, it still says two points at the end of it. At Bracknell, we played some great hockey. I’m not sure if the Hornets were at full strength.”
“Apparently they had to play some forwards in the D, but that doesn’t matter and they didn’t look up for it and we did.”
“It was the best hockey I have seen us play all year and the puck movement was unbelievable. We didn’t quite get to the same level against Wightlink without Callum Fowler being here, but we knew that at the start of the season and we can’t be a one man team.”
Despite Parrish insisting on it being a team performance, it was the prowess of imports Peter Vaisanen and Justin Noble that will earn the plaudits from Sunday night’s display.
Both have blown hot and cold this season leaving Parrish to admit that he was considering changes earlier this campaign when things weren’t going quite as well for the side:
“They have come in for a bit of stick and I won’t lie, a couple of weeks ago I was thinking whether I need to make a change, but I know these guys and I got them in for a reason as they can both score goals.”
“Both of them work their socks off and they score points, so what more can you ask from a player? There were times when one was scoring and not the other, but I don’t want to be making changes as there is the ITC money and the flight money.”
“I brought them here to do a job and they are doing that job. If the imports are playing well, the Brits feed off that and we’ve got a good mix. I’m liking what I’m seeing at the moment.”
“It’s a lot better than what I was seeing four or five weeks ago.”
Having gone the last five games with five wins, most people would be satisfied, but not Parrish who wants the Dynamos to ensure they don’t get complacent and carry on their fine winning streak:
“I would have bitten someone’s arm off for just the one win, let alone five a few weeks back, but we can’t just settle for that and we need to forget about it and look for the sixth now.”
“By the time we train again on Tuesday, they’ve got to be forgotten about and we move on to next week where we face Peterborough at home.”
The game against the Peterborough Islanders in the NIHL Southern Cup is the last in that competition until January, before embarking on an eleven game run in the league through Christmas.
Face off at the Silver Blades Ice Bowl in Gillingham is 5:15pm on Sunday.
Picture supplied by David Trevallion