The Invicta Dynamos came away from Wales with a victory against the Cardiff Fire on Saturday with player coach Anthony Leone grabbing 4 goals.
The Mos welcomed back Ryan Giles, Harrison Lillis and Tom Davis but were still without Mark Williams due to injury.
Kristians Kasjanovs opened the scoring for the home side on 06:22 when he slipped the puck underneath Grandy-Smith but the Mos equalised for 1-1 almost immediately – Strawson with a defence splitting pass from his own zone that put Huska clear to beat netminder Ben Scanlan.
The Mos had defensive pair Dale Buckland and Henry Aiken sent to the box on minor penalties in the 8th minute and the Fire made the most of their 2 man advantage to lead 2-1 on 08:42 through Elias Sheppard. Tempers then flared later in the frame with Aiken and Sheppard dropping the gloves in an even contest before Wilkinson and Buckland also had a dance with Wilkinson getting the takedown. Once matters were calmed the Mos were awarded a powerplay and scored near the end of it through Leone to finish the period level on 2-2.
The 2nd period saw no goals for the first 9 minutes before the Mos upped the gear. Arran Strawson (29:18) and Owen Dell (30:18) put the Mos 2 goals up before Leone (32:03) and Huska (32:47) added another quick double to put the Kent side in a comfortable 6-2 lead.
Two further goals before the period ended from Owen Dell (37:57) and Luke Thirkettle (39:57) gave Leone an easier end of period team talk than the previous one.
The final frame saw Leone grab his hat-trick on 42:55 after Huska laid the puck on a plate for him but Lewis Stevens grabbed a goal back on 44:40 for 9-3. A Ross Wilkinson hit on Owen Dell then caused the Cardiff man and Harrison Lillis to square-up with Wilkinson taking a big swing at Lillis and missing which also left Wilkinson tumbling to the ice – much to the delight of the travelling fans.
Leone notched his 4th goal on the powerplay (46:13) and Huska hit an 11th for the Mos on 49:35 to put the game beyond the reach of the hosts although they did grab two consolations through Jack Whiting and Morgan Evans to end the match at 11-5 in favour of the Mos.
The Dynamos also lost Juraj Huska for the last 10 minutes of the game when referee Fusco judged his hit on Sam Bryant as a check from behind with the Slovakian penalised on a 2+10 charge on 51:12.
Cardiff Points: J. Whitling 1+0, J. Warren 0+2, C. Lloyd 0+2, K. Kasjanovs 1+1, L. Stevens 1+0, M. Evans 1+0, C. Racine 0_1, E. Sheppard 1+0
Invicta Points: L. Thirkettle 1+0, H. Aiken 0+1, O. Dell 2+0, A. Leone 4+1, E. Farrell 0+3, D. Buckland 0+1, A. Strawson 1+1, J. Huska 3+4, F. Sedivy 0+1
Netminders:
Cardiff: B. Scanlan (Cardiff) – 80.95% (42 shots / 8 goals), L. Davies (Cardiff) – 75.00% (12 shots / 3 goals)
Invicta: Z. Grandy-Smith (Dynamos) – 84.38% (32 shots / 5 goals)
Penalty Minutes:
Cardiff: 40
Invicta: 38
Man of the Match:
Cardiff: Ben Smith
Invicta: Owen Rider
Written by Lee Allen