A depleted Invicta Dynamos side suffered a 8-0 loss against title favourites Swindon Wildcats at Planet Ice Gillingham on Sunday night.

The Dynamos were short benched after the departure of the Bartlett brothers during the week. Dynamos also missed Ondrej Zosiak and Andy Munroe due to injury and Arran Strawson after the birth of his son on Sunday morning. The visitors missed Toms Rutkis, Tyler Perre and Elliot Randall.

Dynamos’ Adam Long started between the posts and Remy Marr for the Wildcats. It was a strong start from both teams as the Dynamos worked well on the breakaway but Marr blocked a couple of shots.

Swindon’s Edgar Bebris, who was set up by Sam Jones and Maxim Birbraer, snapped a shot into the goal giving the visitors the lead at 7:05.

Jake Stedman was sent to the penalty box for holding giving the Wildcats a powerplay. Loris Taylor scored a powerplay goal as he tucked the puck into the Mos net.

The Wildcats led 2-0 at the end of the first period after a period full of penalties and hits.

End to end play continued at the start of the second period as both teams fought for dominance. Dynamos looked to score their first of the night as Edmund Piacka fed the puck to Brandon Miles who attempted to score against Marr who blocked the shot.

Swindon skated into the zone and Birbraer fired a shot on Long who saved but Neil Liddiard quickly scooped up the puck and took a shot. Long dropped to his knees but the puck rolled through; increasing the Wildcats lead to 3-0 at 24:23.

Dynamos made a flurry of shots on the Marr goal, but none could find the back of the net. Swindon iced too many men however it was missed by the ref who then gave a 4 minute bench penalty to the Dynamos after the complaint about the missed penalty on Swindon.

Frustrated Dynamos became physical after the bench penalty as Joe Allen slammed Bebris into the boards. Followed by Harrison Lillis who planted a hit on Chris Jones. Jones retaliated with a slash which tripped Lillis. An unhappy Lillis grabbed Jones and started to punch him. Players begun to bundle the fight as Miles was held back by Swindon captain Jan Kostal.

After several minutes of discussion, the refs decided on the penalties. Lillis received a match for fighting, Jones received a 2 minute slashing penalty and Sam Godfrey was ejected from the game with a game penalty for third man in.

Shortly after, Swindon scored another powerplay goal as Sam Bullas sent the puck into the dynamos net over the shoulder of Long which increased their lead even further to 4-0.

Dynamos started the third period shorthanded with 1:54 left of Lillis’s penalty. The Mos managed to kill the penalty. Swindon’s player-coach Aaron Nell raced towards Long alone with the puck and planted it into the top right corner of the net. Nell’s goal made the score 5-0 at 43:24.

As the Mos battled 4 on 4, Louis Colvin wound up for a slapshot from the point which was received by Callum Best who tried to score the rebound but Marr was there to save once more.

A battle for the puck behind the Swindon net led to Miles grabbing Birbraer and the two exchanged punches until Miles took the take down. Miles received 2 minutes for roughing plus another 2 + 2 for fighting. Birbraer received a similar 2 minutes for tripping and 2 + 2 for fighting. Bullas received a 10 minute misconduct penalty.

Seconds later Bebris fired a shot past Long which made the game 6-0.

Dynamos created many opportunities down by the Swindon net but after a save from Marr, a frustrated Piacka was pushed into the netminder and retaliated against the Swindon player and the ref intervened.

The Wildcats gained another chance and Sam Jones sent the puck into the net scoring the seventh goal of the night for Swindon with 4 minutes remaining.

A defeated and frustrated Dynamos side battled for the last few minutes but Luc Johnson took hold of the puck and scored another goal for Swindon. With 42 seconds remaining of the game, Swindon made it 8-0.

The short-benched Invicta Dynamos battled hard against the title favourites, Swindon Wildcats. However the Wildcats finish the weekend with 4 points after defeating the Dynamos the night before (Saturday) at Swindon.

Invicta Dynamos: 0

Swindon Wildcats: Sam Bullas 2+1, Chris Jones 1+2, Aaron Nell 1+2, Edgar Bebris 1+2, Loris Taylor 1+1, Neil Liddiard 1+0, Luc Johnson 1+0, Maxim Birbraer 0+3, Sam Jones 0+1, Adam Harding 0+1, Stephen Whitfield 0+1.