More on KentOnline
More on KentOnline
Invicta Dynamos head into the play-off finals this weekend and don’t have far to look for inspiration.
The Invicta Mustangs went into last weekend’s NIHL 2 play-offs as the fifth seeds but swept aside the leading teams to claim the title.
Karl Lennon’s Dynamos team head to Milton Keynes for finals weekend where they will meet league runners-up Solent Devils in Sunday’s semi-final.
The Mos defeated Chelmsford Chieftains in the play-off quarter-finals last weekend.
Lennon said: “We can take a lot of inspiration from our other team at Invicta, the Mustangs, who play in the league below us.
“They played their play-off weekend just gone, beating the first placed team Bristol 7-1 in the semi-final and then beating the second placed team 7-2 in the final, winning their play-off finals and I was dead proud of them.
“Two of the guys with two-way contracts, Matt Bell and Ed Stedman both featured in those games and they are play-off champions for the league below us.
“It was a great weekend for Invicta, being the family that we are, we are very happy about that.
“In the summer we sat down, Ali (Roger) the coach there and Kevin Lake their captain, and we tried to create a connection between our two teams in a more positive way perhaps than it had been previously.
“I think that both sides are bearing the fruits of that these last few weeks. We have stayed together the whole way through and I am proud of everything, not only of what we have achieved but what they have achieved too. It has been a great season for us both so far.
“Matt and Ed will be with us this weekend and so they will be on a high. Hopefully they can bring that spirit into the camp that is already on a high anyway just by the recent weeks we have had.
“It is a great time for Invicta and we have been more solid this year than we have ever been. I get emotional thinking about it, but I am proud of that as much as anything.”
Streatham and Romford Junior Raiders contest the other semi-final in Milton Keynes. Winners meet in the final on Monday.
He said: “You have to beat the best to win a trophy so it makes no difference to us who we play, we will prepare accordingly, it is just great to be there as part of the occasion but we don’t just want to be there as a participant, I want us to win.
“Any team that goes into a play-off weekend is going in there with that nature, we are no different.
“Anyone on their day can beat any team and ultimately it is five players on the ice at a time, it is a battle.
“I have faith in my group, I love them to pieces, they are such a great bunch of lads.
“They give me everything every time they play and I know they will do that this weekend and if we do that then I can’t be unhappy and ultimately that is the most important thing.
“We have one week of training, one weekend of hockey left and that’s it.
“This might be the last time the guys get to play with each other for various different reasons across the course of the summer. It has been special so far, why not make it more special?”
