Baxter’s gonna get ya!

GILLINGHAM, UK – If somebody asked you to find Invicta on a map of the UK, there is a good chance you will struggle. As one of the few teams who fail to mention the town they play in within their name, the Gillingham based Invicta Dynamos certainly don’t suffer from their unique branding. Up until recently the name was appropriate in describing the undefeated Dynamos, as the term Invicta translates as unconquered in Latin. The team responsible for ending the Dynamos nine game unbeaten run this season, were the Bracknell Hornets, who clinched a 4-3 victory in Berkshire to give the chasing teams hope of catching the league leaders. This result seemingly shocked Coach Kevin Parrish in to action as he gassed Swede Johan Stenvall and then swooped for Romford Raiders defence man Ryan Giles the following week. One player on the Dynamos roster who can never be accused of complacency is feisty forward Grant Baxter. Now in his seventh consecutive year with the club, the former England junior is the Dynamos all time leader in penalty minutes with just over 900. After only ten games this season he has amassed 68 minutes, and is well on the way to achieving the magical 1000 figure by the end of 2009/10. Make no mistake, Baxter hasn’t spent all of his career in the sin bin. In recent seasons his goals and assists have risen dramatically and he only registered 16 minutes last year in the league, compared with a whopping 153 minutes in 2004/05

The popular ‘Baxter’s gonna get you’ chant that previously rang around the Gillingham Ice Bowl has returned this season and home fans are seeing the Baxter of old. The player himself insists that his role on the team hasn’t changed and the coach hasn’t given him the enforcer position: “It’s a tougher league this year, I just have to play harder and these things just happen when you play the way I do” Whilst the ENL is most definitely a tougher league this year, it is also more skilled and Baxter acknowledges that his team have some tough tests ahead: “Each team we face brings a different challenge. There are a lot of different players this season on the other team’s rosters, so that brings with it a bit of the unknown which can only be a good thing, “I am really looking forward to see how Wightlink compete on a full ice surface and hopefully we can rekindle our rivalry with Chelmsford. The upcoming game against the Chieftains should be good hard fun with them in second place, and whilst we haven’t played them for a few years, the rivalry is still there and I think we can make it just as much fun as the Streatham games” Chelmsford will be hoping that Baxter does not have quite as much fun against them as he did in the last few fixtures against the Redskins where the Mo’s won all four games. With more than three full lines and plenty of competition for places, Dynamos head coach Kevin Parrish is facing somewhat of a selection dilemma every week and this will be exacerbated by the rumoured new arrival over the coming days. Baxter is keen to point out however that team spirit is high and that the team certainly are enjoying life right now: “Team spirit is as good as it always has been. The boys who have been here for a while always try to make the new boys welcome and we socialise together quite a bit” Despite the warm welcome, some of the new arrivals haven’t found life quite as easy as Baxter gleefully points out: “The imports ended up taking Euros to the Isle of Wight for the Wightlink game on the back of some suspect advice from their team mates” At least Mr Vaisenan and Mr Stenvall could be excused for this oversight however:  “Joe Johnston got himself in a right mess thinking that the ‘L’ on his sock meant it was for the left leg and he couldn’t find a right legged sock. I had to point out that the ‘L’ did in fact stand for large size”   With the Dynamos top of the league and in top form, Grant Baxter and his team mates will be hoping they are in the same position at the end of the season. Thanks for reading and stay safe. Carrsy Contact the author david.carr@prohockeynews.com Contact the photographer david.trevallion@prohockeynews.com