A Sunday night in Gillingham saw the Invicta Dynamos host the Romford Buccaneers for the teams third meeting of the year.  

Following last weekend’s antics, the Dynamos were punished with the following three suspensions. Captain Harrison picked up a 4-game ban for fighting at the end of the period, as well as an additional 2 games for reaching the 10 penalty point threshold meaning Lillis will miss 6 games in total. Brandon Chard and Matthew Bell also received 4 game suspensions for fighting at the end of the period.  

 The first few minutes were back and forth as both sides tried to find a way through. It was Buccaneers defender Brad Taylor who opened the scoring with a low shot from the slot beating Owen Rider.    

With the momentum swinging in the visitor’s favour, 16-year-old Brynley Capps doubled Romford’s lead at the 11-minute mark.  

It took the Dynamos just thirty seconds to cut the deficit in half, as Owen Dell fired short side beating Romford netminder Sonny Phillips. 2-1 game.  

With 40 seconds remaining in the first period, Dynamos stand in Captain Thomas Soar tied the game up firing the puck over the left shoulder of Phillips.  

An exciting first period finished all square.  

A slow start to the second period from the Dynamos allowed Capps to net his second of the game.  

Despite the slow start, the Mos quickly tied things back up this time through Ruskin Springer Hughes who made no mistakes on the breakaway. 2 minutes later, the hosts took their first lead of the night as Oliver Bronnimann was left all alone in the slot, making no mistakes burying the rebound from Arran Strawson’s shot from the blue line.  

This end-to-end thriller was by no means over as Ewan Hill brought the game back to level pegging firing the puck just below the blocker of Rider. Less than two minutes later Capps scored his hattrick goal and put the Bucs back in front.  

An end to end first period saw Romford take a one goal advantage into the break. The Dynamos knew that a big third period would be required to seal the 2 points.  

The visitors returned to the ice ready to play in the third period. It took just eleven seconds for Capps to net his fourth and Romford’s sixth, giving them a two-goal lead.  

The Dynamos once again reacted well to the early pressure as Soar fired home off the post to bring the game back within touching distance for the Mos.  

Invicta began to increase the pressure in the last 15 minutes of the game however struggled to find the end result. 

The constant pressure was finally rewarded as Stanislav Lascek tied the game up with four minutes to go.  

With 6 seconds left in regulation James Laming was given a high sticking penalty meaning that Romford would have a man advantage in overtime.  

It took Romford only 35 seconds for the Buccaneers to call game, a nifty wrap around move from Capps gave him the chance to slip it past the foot of Rider for his fifth of the night.  

Despite dropping the disappointing overtime loss to the Buccaneers. The Mos place in the League Cup Semi Finals was confirmed, Streatham defeated Solent in regulation meaning that Invicta have the opportunity to defend the cup they won last season. 

The first leg will be on Saturday night in Gillingham, faceoff at 5:45. The second leg will take place in Streatham on Sunday. Despite facing back-to-back losses, the Dynamos will be confident heading into next weekend.  

Images courtesy of Dave Trevallion