Invicta Dynamos 8 Notts Lions 1

IN A highly professional performance, the Gillingham-based Invicta Dynamos ice hockey team brushed aside an unusually bad-tempered Nottingham Lions side on Sunday in the first leg of their League Cup semi-final.

After the previous weeekend's blip, the Mos came out all guns blazing at the Ice Bowl and were 3-0 up within five minutes to take a healthy lead into the second game in Nottingham on March 17.

In what was always going to be a one-sided match the Lions' for once descended into an undisciplined display picking up 26 penalty minutes, while the Mos outshot them 54-34.

Sean Clement marked his return from injury by opening the scoring at 1.18 picking his spot and blasting the puck home with assists given to Andy Hannah and Mikko Skinnari.

Adam White who started in goal for Nottingham was beaten again at 3.57 when Duane Ward carried the puck down ice and with a huge windup hit it so hard it almost toppled the netminder going in off his pads.

It looked ominous for the Lions when Matt Beveridge got in on the early goal action 37 seconds later but it was to be another half an hour before the Dynamos converted another chance.

Before that Chris Colegate notched up Nottingham's first minutes in the sinbin after a slash on Mike Kindred and Chris Black got their first real chance but his fine shot was well-saved by the ever-dependable Matt Van Der Velden.

The second period started with Black and Carl Greenhous becoming "acquainted" when the young upstart was given a talking to by the considerably bigger 210lb Canadian. The set to resulted in both players getting two minutes for delaying the game. Then Clement played a beautiful rink long pass to Kindred who converted with some style but it was called offside, too late for grumpy Lion Philip Hill though who had already lost his temper with the linesman, shoved him and got 2+10 for abuse of official.

With Joe Wightman then getting a hooking charge the Mos had a five on three situation, but amazingly failed to score again on the powerplay. The hard-working line of Beveridge, Ward, Elliott Andrews, Jake French and Greenhous did the business again on 34.02 when Beveridge made the most of a beautiful pass from Ward.

With David Radford taking his time in the lonely box at 36.33, a 2+2 penalty for slashing and unsportsmanlike conduct, the Mos took full advantage scoring twice. The first was Hannah showing great stick handling, going on a jinking run through Nottingham's defence before French scored with a slapshot from the blue line that must have tickled the toes of White as it sneaked in at the far post.

Alan Levers replaced the disillusioned White in the third period and he was soon in the thick of it a thunderous Hannah slapshot whistling past him and pinging off the pipes.

The Lions were finding it hard to live with the Mos and uncharacteristically resorted to foul play as Joe Wightman carried out a nasty check on Skinnari, which took the wind out of the Finn's sails.

But the young all-British side were playing with fire as Invicta started to follow through on checks, hitting harder causing Nottingham players to back off many of the plays. Levers pulled off some good saves to deny Andrews, Hannah, Greg Hales and Ward before Paul Hume and Chris Colegate squared up to each other and got two minutes for roughing.

The Lions scored their only goal of the night at 51.15 when the puck was given away in defence and Stephan Dodwell, Stuart Bliss and Chris Markham combined well to give Vandy no chance.

Greenhous and Black got involved again at 52.23 when the Lion's reckless slash resulted in a rather large bruise on the angry defenseman's cheek. Greenhous got 2+2 for delaying the game and unsportsmanlike conduct, while Black got 2+2 for slashing and unsportsmanlike conduct.

The Mos sealed matters with two late goals from Skinnari and Hannah before an irate Greenhous ran Black off the rink. The red mist descended and the youngster got his ears cuffed before Greenhous skated after him and slamdunked him onto the ice off the boards for a two minute charging penalty.

AFTER the final buzzer, the wait was over as the Dynamos were presented with the English National Premier League Trophy.

It was fittingly lifted by captain Phil Chard to the cheers of the crowd. Things are looking good for the team, with one skate in the cup final and the play-offs to come.

Team manger Andy Mason reflected on the game and said: "I think it showed that the team were totally pumped up for this game. We took Nottingham a little by surprise at how fast we started.

"Everyone was aware of the importance of the game and also wanted to get the disappointment of the Romford game out of their system. I spoke to their coach Matt Bradbury before the game and he told me how hard their boys had worked for this game but in the end natural ability and experience was the difference between the two sides.

"We had the quality and it was great to see Phil Chard and Sean Clement come through the game. By resting them last weekend it gave their injuries time to heal and it allowed Duane Ward to come back strong and fit after flu. It may not have seemed it at the time but it was the right decision and we reaped the rewards last night.

"We now are real favourites to make the final and it looks like Romford will be our opponents as they go into the second leg with a 10-6 advantage after beating Solihull on their own ice - what a game that will be!"

TO MARK this season's success at getting into the play-offs three Invicta Dynamos had their hair dyed the team colours to raise money for Kent's children hospice, Demelza House.

Matt Van Der Velden, Mike Kindred and Kevin Parish went red, white and blue respectively and showed off their new look last night as a collection bucket went round the Ice Bowl.

The colourful trio will be raising money throughout the play-offs before presenting a cheque to the charity.