Haringey Huskies v Invicta Dynamos

Match report

The Invicta Dynamos suffered a woeful defeat to the hands of the Haringey Huskies in London on Saturday night, losing 7-4. The Mos took to the ice with no imports having released Filip Sedivy during the week and then finding out Juraj Huska would have to serve a six game ban for a late hit in a previous game against the Cardiff Fire. Despite being short on numbers the Mos still iced 16 skaters.

The game was only 22 seconds old when Stuart Appleby fed the puck to Gheorghe Dragomir and the import forward slotted past Zachary Grandy-Smith for 1-0. It didn’t take the Mos long to reply – Tom Davis sweeping a pass to Anthony Leone in the 2nd minute for the player-coach to dispatch past netminder Daniel Lane for 1-1.

Dragomir was a constant threat with his pace and the Mos had Grandy-Smith to thank for keeping out an effort from the speedy forward as well as James Pentecost. It was then a moment to forget for Henry Aiken on 09:34 when Appleby robbed him of the puck to face Grandy-Smith alone and blast past the helpless netminder for 2-1. The Huskies would double the lead on 11:53 – Mark Robinson passing to Pentecost who drifted across the ice to avoid Buckland and Giles and hammer the puck into the net.

The Mos put plenty of early pressure on the Huskies at the beginning of the 2nd period with Strawson, Stedman and Jones all firing efforts at goal unsuccessfully. At the opposite end, Nicholas Alley won possession from Buckland with Grandy-Smith pulling out a smart save to rescue his teammate. The Huskies went 4-1 up on 37:04 – Alley and Appleby creating the chance for Pentecost to double his goal tally. The visitors replied quickly and made it 4-2 within 12 seconds – Strawson passing to Davis who in-turn laid the puck to Leone who slotted past Lane. Just as the Mos thought they may be on the comeback trail that hope was soon dampened with Dragomir scored unassisted on 39:10 for 5-2.

The Dynamos knew they had to score early in the final period to have any hopes of securing points but it was the Huskies who struck first – aided by a powerplay. With Elliot Farrell sitting a slashing penalty the home side scored through Ryan Payne within 3 seconds of the extra man advantage. However, once again the Mos replied quickly – Aiken and Davis conjuring room for Arran Strawson to make it 6-3 on 41:30.

The Mos had Grandy-Smith to thank soon after, particularly for a double save that denied both Pentecost and Alley. Anthony Leone grabbed his hat-trick on 45:45 to cut the deficit to 6-4 and a late powerplay gave the visitors hope but with the Huskies successfully defended for the full two minutes and, when the Mos had to pull Grandy-Smith, it left Gheorghe Dragomir the opportunity on 59:56 to strike into an empty net to finish the game at 7-4.

Haringey Points: N. Alley 0+1, R. Payne 1+0, S. Appleby 1+2, L. Mercer 0+1, M. Robinson 0+1, G. Dragomir 3+0, J. Pentecost 2+0

Invicta Points: H. Aiken 0+1, T. Davis 0+3, A. Leone 3+0, A. Strawson 1+1

Netminders:
Haringey: D. Lane (Huskies) – 91.84% (49 shots /4 goals)
Invicta: Z. Grandy-Smith (Dynamos) – 81.82% (33 shots /6 goals), Empty Net (Dynamos) – (1 shot /1 goal)

Penalty Minutes:
Haringey: 14
Invicta: 14

Man of the Match:
Haringey: Ryan Payne
Invicta: Conor Redmond

Written by Lee Allen.