A man of the match performance from netminder David Wride, alongside goals from Callum Best and Grant Baxter, were not enough to prevent the Dynamos slipping to a second defeat in two in the South East Trophy as they lost 4-2 to the Romford Raiders in Essex.
Travelling to Rom Valley Way to face a home side minus ‘import’ Andrius Kaminskas, the Dynamos might have fancied themselves for a result the other side of the Kent border but their pregame optimism was dented just half a minute into the tie as they became a non-EIHA trained skater light themselves. With only 29 seconds on the clock, an innocuous clash ended with home forward Juraj Huska taking an accidental stick to the face that drew blood. Following the letter of the law, referee Petr Popluhar was forced to dispatch the guilty party from the tie and selected Canadian Peter Vaisanen through a sea of bodies as the man who inadvertently caught Romford’s Slovak sniper.
Despite zero intent, the Dynamos’ star forward would now be forced to watch the remainder of the tie from the stands with the ‘import’ numbers now even out on the ice. When the action then restarted it was the hosts who had the better of the opening frame as they secured a two goal advantage despite an even shot count. Utility man Ryan Giles, who switched Gillingham for Essex in the summer, grabbed the first opportunity to tally against his former side as he rifled home midway through the period following a pass from Juraj Huska. Their edge was then doubled, just four minutes later, when a fine solo effort from Matt Turner left netminder David Wride with no chance and the Dynamos 2-0 down come the buzzer.
After an opening frame that contained controversy but lacked intensity, the second period followed a similar pattern with neither side partaking in the physical side of the game. This allowed the Raiders, minus battlers JJ McGrath and Andrius Kaminskas, to concentrate on controlling the puck and, but for goalie David Wride, they would have added to their lead. However, despite outshooting their guests by 15 to 7, the home side actually saw their advantage halved just two minutes into the frame when Tom Avery and Nathaniel Rose combined before Callum Best beat Shane Kemp from close range for his first goal of the season. Best’s early reply would remain the only one of the period as the Dynamos failed to capitalise on two powerplays and returned to the changing rooms 2-1 behind.
After having the better of the second, but seeing their lead diminish, Romford bested their guests in the last with two goals in the space of three minutes coming close to time. Despite being on the receiving end of a heavy hit from Nathaniel Rose, Raiders’ blue liner Billy Phillips dusted himself off before steering the puck beyond an unsighted David Wride to re-establish the two goal cushion. The killer blow for the Dynamos then came just moments later when Frankie Harvey set Slovak Juraj Huska on his way and the sniper picked his spot perfectly to leave the visitors trailing 4-1. With just five minutes to play and the game slipping out of his side’s grasp, Head Coach Kevin Parrish called a timeout for the second road game in succession and it had the desired effect as his squad hit back almost instantly. Sam Cheema and Brad Watchorn both played a role in the reply before veteran utility man Grant Baxter fizzed the puck beyond Shane Kemp to cut the deficit to 4-2. However, they were unable to add to their tally before the final buzzer sounded and so were consigned to their second away defeat in two outings in the South East Trophy.
So it was another defeat for the Dynamos in a tournament where many teams look to be going through the motions. The South East Trophy is far from the priority in 2012/13 but Kevin Parrish’s side now have it all to do if they harbour any genuine hopes of lifting the silverware. Man of the match awards on the night went to David Wride of the visitors whilst another familiar with the club, Ryan Giles, took the honours for the Raiders.
Picture supplied by David Trevallion