Invicta Dynamos 3 Isle of Wight Raiders 3

The Gillingham-based Invicta Dynamos ice hockey team retained their unbeaten home record against the Isle of Wight Raiders last night, but it was a close call. They trailed by two goals going into the final five minutes of their English Premier League Cup tie, before managing to get themselves level with a double strike by Matt Beveridge.

Dynamos started well with an early shot by Duane Ward just missing the target, but Isle of Wight were playing with more confidence since last weekend's victory on their small ice pad.

The opening goal of the game came at 11.20. A shot at net by Darcy Cahill hit the crossbar but, before the defence could clear the puck, he had picked up the rebound and somehow the puck slowly crossed the line.

The first period ended 53 seconds early when Andy Hannah's check on Gareth Owen saw the latter fly through the plexi-glass. Luckily, he was only slightly hurt and a plaster on the chin was all he needed to continue playing. The glass, however, could not be saved and a piece of plywood was inserted in the frame by the Ice Bowl's maintenance team.

There was an early penalty call on Hannah at the start of the second period. Richard Hargreaves had been sticking away at Hannah for some time but, unfortunately, the Dynamos player-coach let his temper and was called 5 + game for cross-checking. Hargreaves received two minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct but his job for the evening was done as Hannah would play no further part in the game.

After Sean Clement received a 2+10 minute penalty for cross-checking from behind, the Dynamos were left short on defensive players as well as offence.

Then, a speculative blue line shot from the veteran Luc Chabot somehow ended up in the back of Invicta's net on 32.28.

The third period started with the Dynamos on a powerplay after Andy Pickles, of the Raiders, received two minutes for holding three seconds before the end of the second period. The home side's plan did not exactly work out, though, with the Raiders catching the Dynamos on the break to score a short-handed goal at 40.51 through Brendan Knight.

The talking point of the game came at 53.50 when it seemed Andy Moffatt, in the Raiders net, had caught the puck but not before it had gone over his shoulder therefore crossing the line. However, after much discussion with the goal judge, the goal was not given.

Invicta turned up the pressure to pull back the deficit and at 56.32 Matt Beveridge scored, assisted by Ward. In an exciting finish, Darcy Cahill received a two-minute interference call. He decided to tell referee Crouch exactly what he thought of him and, for his trouble, he received a 10-minute abuse of official call.

And, with only two seconds left on Invicta's powerplay, the game was pulled level when Beveridge scored his second of the night with assists from Ward and Mike Kindred.