Invicta Dynamos bounce back from Streatham Southern Cup defeat with NIHL South Division 1 victory over Junior Raiders

Invicta Dynamos clinched a home win in the league on Sunday after a tough start to the new season the day before.

An 11-3 defeat to Streatham in the season-opening NIHL Southern Cup was a flattering scoreline for the champions but the Mos - under new coach Karl Lennon - bounced back with a 6-5 South Division 1 league win over Junior Raiders 24 hours later at Planet Ice.

Claiming that win was a big deal for Lennon, managing the team in front of the home fans for the first time since taking over as head coach.

“I grew up in that rink and it felt really special,” Lennon said.

“I was desperate for that first win at home, I didn’t want to start with two losses and the boys came together and got it done and that was really cool.

“This is just the start. We are beginning to see chemistry within the line-up. We made a couple of changes going into the final period, that seemed to spark a bit of difference.

“The players are learning about each other, how they move and work together and what intensity they play with. That will develop over time, you can’t just switch that on, but we are moving forward.”

Saturday’s opener against the league and cup champions was always going to be tough.

Juraj Huska opened the scoring but Streatham were 3-1 up by the end of the first period.

Tom Soar and Stanislav Lascek got goals in the second, which saw the Mos trail 6-3, but five goals conceded without reply led to a big scoreline for the hosts.

Lennon said: “It was a very difficult start for us to go and play in Streatham, they are the benchmark in the league in terms of who we will come up against.

“We started very well, got the first goal and certainly for the first two periods we were in it. We had a power-play and came close to making it 6-4