It proved to be a fun evening at Invicta Dynamos on Sunday - and even the away netminder was getting cheered.

The Mos beat Milton Keynes Thunder 15-1 on a night where the club’s young players got time on the ice during the interval and a ‘quid-a-kid’ entry fee ensured there was a sizeable crowd at Planet Ice, Gillingham for the NIHL South Division 1 fixture.

Head coach Karl Lennon got to enjoy some of the entertainment himself, too, as his young boy took to the ice after the first period as part of a junior showcase match.

“We were leading 2-0 at that point and I wanted to see my son have a little go at the ice,” said Lennon.

“Even if it was for a short period, the kids did great. It’s brilliant. They’ve just got such great energy and such love for what they’re doing.

“It was nice to see a good advert for the junior club in front of a very good crowd.”

Lennon’s a big fan of getting as many juniors involved as possible in a bid to keep attracting fresh new talent to the sport.

He said: “I was speaking to one parent who had said that that's how their kid got into the game, actually. They'd come to watch a Dynamos game and they saw a kid on the ice and said, ‘Dad, I'd like to do that’, and that was it. They were in.

“It's not an obvious sport to get into in this country and any opportunity that you can expose the route or the path to get into it is great.”

Lennon’s side were expected to win Sunday’s game against a struggling Milton Keynes outfit and piled on the goals late in the game.

At 5-0, the visitors were forced to make a change in goal after an injury, and with no backup netminder, they had to pad up another player to play between the pipes.

Young defenceman James Bryan took over and was cheered every time he made a save by the sympathetic home crowd. He ended up facing 33 shots, conceding 10 and skated away with the away man-of-the-match.

Lennon said: “As an experience for the kids to see all of that and the drama that went around it and whatever else, it was probably quite a fun night for them.”

The Mos also had a collection for the club to raise money to help with the purchase of new equipment.

Cheap tickets for kids is a regular things at the Mos and well supported.

“We're one family here,” said the coach. “It's important that we make the most of any opportunities that we can to help.

“There was some capacity vacant and if we can fill that with some young fans that are on school holidays this week (in Medway) then it's a good opportunity for us to get a slightly different crowd or environment there.

“It was great that not only were the home team getting the cheers as the goals went in, but their netminder was getting some cheers too!”

It was a game the Mos were expected to win, with a good few goals, which they did.

Lennon said: “We knew there was an expectation, obviously, for us to win and the score reflected that we were comfortable throughout but it wasn't as one-sided as you might think, at least not initially.

“We were only 2-0 up on the first period. I thought that Milton Keynes probably played as well as they've played against us, certainly in recent years.

“In that first period, they had good energy, even though they were short on bodies. Their goalie was fantastic in that first spell. Moving into the second period, we knew we had to turn it up a bit and we started pretty well in that period and got a few goals.

“When their goalie had an issue and had to leave the game they had to throw another player in goal and they picked the biggest one, sensibly, who had to face quite a lot of shots from then on in.

“He did extremely well, making some saves that probably were not expected. We were getting a little bit frustrated but after that period of time, we started to then just put them in.

“All credit to them. Despite having the obvious setback that they had, they didn't stop. They kept trying hard and they stuck together and that's a good sign.

“For us, it's hard to gauge just how well we played, really, because it wasn't like we were playing against a netminder that has great experience.”

The Mos had plenty of different goalscorers on the night, including 16-year-olds Evan Chard and Mos’ MOTM Dylan Worthy, scoring his first home goal. Michael Stokes and Joe Stephenson also chipped in among the more usual names on the scoresheet.

Scoring 15 was good, but conceding the one was still of some frustration to a coach.

“It was so needless as well,” Lennon said. “We turned over the puck ourselves and it’s super frustrating because we've been trying to be so focused on that in recent weeks.

“We definitely have pulled down our goals against, which is good, but it's not enough. We really need to be sure that we close those avenues off.

“We always say the same thing. Defence, defence, defence and offence will take care of itself. Generally speaking for us, it does. We always score goals, one or two at least, minimum. But the defensive part is we need to be more ruthless in our own zone.”

On Wednesday, the Mos announced that netminder Owen Rider was leaving the club.

A product of the junior set-up, he made his senior debut aged 16 and became a fans’ favourite, winning 2022/23 supporters’ player-of-the-year award.

This year he’s shared ice time at the Mos and recently assisted National League team the Bristol Pitbulls.

The Mos said: “While we are saddened by Owen's departure, we extend our thanks for his contributions to the club and wish him all the best in his future endeavours.”

The Dynamos take a break this weekend. Next Saturday (November 2) they are away to the Romford Buccaneers and host Oxford City Stars the following day (November 3).