Match Report – Sunday 15th September 2024
Invicta Dynamos 5 v 7 Streatham Redhawks
Written by Jon Akers
Invicta took to the ice for their first home game in the league this season renewing the old rivalry with our visitors from South London in what doubled up as a league and cup fixture, so points were at stake in 2 competitions. Invicta’s roster was 21 players while the visitors roster was 18; and included Damien King who has seemingly signed as injury cover for the Redhawks since the season started. The officials for the evening were Evans and Hill in a 2-man system, half of the 4-man system that oversaw our pre-season game with National League Team Romford Raiders last week! A two-minute applause preceded the game in honour of Ken Taggart, former Chair of the England Ice Hockey Association, the national anthem followed, and the puck was ready to drop. Starting goalies were Windebank for Invicta and King for Streatham.
Period 1
The period started at a fairly high intensity with end-to-end plays and neither team had any real clear chances in the opening minutes. Invicta went close with chances for Pywell and Laming, dealt with by King. Streatham started to raise the stakes and take control creating a few chances which culminated in Ingoldsby firing in assisted by J. Lane and Stead at 7.50. The pressure continued and Streatham extended their lead when the impressive Brittle was left alone in front and fired in, assisted by E.Lane at 9.59. Invicta responded with a good chance for Bronnimann but the Streatham defence scrambled it clear. The first penalty of the night went to Pitchley for charging at 12.03, giving Invicta the power play chance which they duly took advantage of. An exchange between Colvin, Bronnimann and Scott culminated in Scott firing the home at 13.45 to halve the deficit. The last 5 minutes of the period continued fairly end to end with Streatham looking the greater threat. Invicta were only able to fashion a couple of half chances as the period drew to a close with the score standing at 2-1 to Streatham, who did have the better of the period and deserved to be ahead.
Period 2
Invicta began the second period looking to get back level. A scrappy start saw neither team dominate but at 22.00 Streatham got their 3rd, courtesy of Brittle with his 2nd of the evening assisted by Watt. Possibly one Windebank in net would have wanted to have done better with. Invicta started to put more plays together following the goal and increased their pressure in the offensive zone with a good few intensive shifts. At 26 minutes Streatham fired one off the post with another chance on the follow up, but Windebank stood firm. There was another chance for Ingoldsby of Streatham who broke free one-on-one, but this was duly saved by Windebank to keep the gap at 2. At 27.50 Invicta took their first penalty of the night when Worthy was called for elbows and sat for 2 to put Streatham on the powerplay. 11 seconds into the powerplay Invicta broke with a two-on-one which saw Connolly carry the puck into the zone and fire past King to make it 2-3 at 28.01, a lovely shorthanded goal. Not long after that, as Connolly was doing great forechecking on the penalty kill, he clashed with an errant Streatham d man’s knee and went down visibly looking in pain. He did eventually manage to skate off, with help and Invicta then killed the remaining penalty time. At 31.05 Streatham took another penalty with Paynter getting 2 minutes for Slashing. Invicta quickly took advantage of the extra man with a smart finish from Thune assisted by Springer Hughes and Scott to tie the game at 3 all. Streatham were penalised again just over a minute later with Doughty visiting the box for 2 minutes on a roughing call, at 32.46. Invicta couldn’t capitalise on the extra man with only a couple of half chances and the penalty was killed. After returning to full strength, Ingoldsby broke free and was chopped down resulting in Evans signaling a penalty shot to Streatham which Brittle duly converted between Windebank’s legs to get his hat trick for the night at 35.32. They quickly followed that up with their 5th goal through Paynter with a smart tip in front of the net, assisted by Stead. That ended the scoring for the period and the teams headed into the break at 3-5 on the board.
Period 3
The final period started with Invicta, once again, looking to close the gap and nearly did when an early Laming chance was saved by King. The task for Invicta became even harder when at 42.35 Ingoldsby scored assisted by E. Lane and J. Lane for Streatham’s 6th and a 3-goal lead. At 44.26 both teams took a penalty, with Scott for Invicta and Pitchley for Streatham sitting for cross checking and goaltender interference, respectively. The penalties were coincidental, so the game stayed at 5 on 5. Invicta then found another gear and got their 4th of the night at 45.46 with a smart finish in front from Krakauskas assisted by Thune and Springer-Hughes. Within a minute Invicta got their 5th of the night with a smart one-time finish from the impressive Thune assisted by Bronnimann at 46.36. This seemed to inspire and for the next few minutes, spurred on by a vociferous home support, they pushed for the equaliser but, bar a few half chances, Streatham resisted the onslaught. Moving into the last 10 minutes the game was still in the balance with both teams pushing. Unfortunately at 53.04 Watt was found all alone in front and netted top shelf on the backhand assisted by Brittle and Beesley for their 7th which restored their 2 goal lead. This seemed to knock the stuffing out of the Invicta push and Streatham controlled the latter part of the period to try and close out the game. Invicta called a timeout at 58.55 and pulled Windebank resulting in a 6 on 4 battle for the remaining minute of the game but, despite pressure, Invicta just couldn’t find the net. With the game winding down Streatham took a timeout at 59.49 and with the final score 5-7.
The game was end to end at times, and Invicta certainly competed with last season’s champions. Defensively they may want at least 2 of the goals back from errors in the preceding play and Streatham did always look like they had an extra gear to just keep their noses in front and ran out winners.
Man of the match for Invicta was the ever-hardworking Laming and for Streatham, Brittle, with a hat-trick.
