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Sport

Celebration time for Mighty Mos

By: KentOnline reporter multimediadesk@thekmgroup.co.uk

Published: 00:00, 08 April 2002

Updated: 14:22, 08 April 2002

IT WAS double delight for the Gillingham-based Invicta Dynamos ice hockey side on Sunday as they nailed their second title of the season.

Three goals in four minutes pummelled the Isle of Wight Raiders into submission in a cagey second leg of the play-off final.

The first leg saw the Mos pick up a superb 2-1 away win and they built on that to win 6-3 on aggregate, beating the Raiders 4-2 on home ice.

The Raiders were making their fifth appearance in the play-off finals and had yet to taste defeat, winning the title four times between 1993-1997, but there comes a first time for everything.

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At the Planet Ice Arena on Saturday the Dynamos timed their first win on the notoriously small rink to perfection with man of the match Matt Beveridge grabbing both goals. His first came at 7.10 on a powerplay and it was third time lucky after his first two shots were saved by the in form goaltender Andy Moffat.

Dynamos increased their lead at 14.09 in an excellent first period when Ward stole the puck and laid it off for Beveridge.

Despite almost being decapitated by the bulky Jason Coles, Matt Van Der Velden kept his head and pulled off some great saves, especially from Kyle Amyotte, before finally being beaten on a dubious powerplay at 42.47 by Andy Pickles.

The only other talking point of the game was when Darcy Cahill, playing his last season, came out of a corner scuffle minus three front teeth. No penalty was called because nobody knew what had happened, but Cahill was not amused and skated around the rink dripping blood before angrily skating off for the last time in a Raiders' jersey.

On Sunday night, defending their slim lead, the Mos started slowly and Amyotte should have levelled the aggregate score after just 30 seconds, but Van Der Velden came up with his first of many big saves in a tense night.

The Mos were peppering Moffat's goal, but his top class performance, facing 51 shots, gave him a well-deserved man of the match award while Ward was named top Dynamo for his aggressive attacking style.

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The best chance of the period came at 14.30 when a break away saw a two on one situation and as Coles bared down on goal Van Der Velden looked to have been beaten before stretching out a leg to spectacularly deny the Raiders once more. Two minutes later and it was that man Beveridge again who lost his marker from a face-off and flicked the puck home thanks to a beautiful pass from Ward.

Play was scrappy in the second period until the Raiders got back into the game with a well-taken Coles goal at 27.48. They drew level on aggregate after the puck bounced kindly off a linesman and Brendan Knight hit a superb netbuster at 35.52 after neat interplay with Scott Carter.

The situation went from bad to worse when Coles was poleaxed on the crease as he tried to get the puck under control. Andy Hannah received a penalty of 2+10 for charging from behind. Ward then scored a sublime goal, spinning in front of Moffat and sliding the puck home at 48.12 following excellent play by Elliott Andrews and Beveridge.

The brilliant Mikko Skinnari kept up the pace when he ghosted his way up centre ice, evading tackles and leaving Amyotte flat on his face with his pace before letting rip with a fierce slapshot.

From the rebound young Paul Hume on for the influential Hannah pounced for a dream introduction to the play-off finals with a great back handed shot.

The Mos knew the game was won and Hannah returned as bullish as ever with a crunching but fair challenge immediately followed with a goal at 52.25, calmly lifting the puck over a pile of players to seal the play-off championship title.

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