Captain Aaron Connolly has been praised by Invicta Dynamos head coach Karl Lennon.

The forward rejoined Dynamos last summer, having made his debut for the club when he was just 13 and led the way with a four-goal performance in Sunday’s 10-4 NIHL South Division 1 home victory over struggling Oxford City Stars.

“He was fantastic,” said Lennon. “He’s a stand-out performer, anyway. He’s an excellent ice hockey player, first and foremost, and a great leader.

“We have seen through performances during the season how he helps to spur his team-mates on.

“He’s not someone who wants to score and take the glory himself - he’s quite the opposite, actually - and he’d have been just as happy, coming off the rink, having not scored on Sunday.

“But when you don’t focus on things like that, sometimes, that’s when you get your best results.”

Also scoring were the club’s newest recruit, Louie White - putting in a man-of-the-match performance on his debut - Harrison Lillis, Cameron Pywell, Tom Soar, Mads Thune and Louis Colvin.

White, 19, started skating with Invicta as a four-year-old before he progressed through Streatham’s under-15 and under-18 teams.

He moved to the prestigious Ontario Jockey Academy and, most recently, had been playing for the Florida Junior Blades in the USPHL Elite League.

When his season ended in the States, he was eager to come back to England and represent his hometown team again where he has wasted little time in making an impact.

On the Oxford City Stars result, Lennon reflected: “It was pretty convincing.

“Obviously, we were happy with the amount of goals we scored on the night, especially because their netminder is one of the stronger ones in the division.

“I’m a little unhappy with the goals we conceded. We gave up three power plays that were pretty unnecessary.

“But it was good to get another win under our belts, that’s five in a row now, so we’re extremely happy with that form.

“There’s a lot of love spread around the team. The guys really appreciate it and it’s invaluable.

"It’s nice the goals are being spread around in general and it’s not all down to just one person.

“There was a goal from Louie White. He’s come back from America and will play with us for the rest of this season. He’s an Invicta junior.

“It was nice to see him play for the Dynamos, score on his first shift and set one up. I’m sure it will have been a great moment for him and his family.

“He was man-of-the-match, as well.”

Dynamos have a fixture-free weekend before they start March with a double-header, including a journey to high-fliers Chelmsford Chieftains - the last team to beat Dynamos.

Lennon said: “Now, we have a weekend off where it’s the cup final weekend and we didn’t make that.

“It gives time for our players to recover and then we have got a double-header the following weekend.

“We have got Romford, who are presently one place below us, on the Saturday. Our under-10s will be out on the ice before the game, which will be nice.

“Then, we have got Chelmsford, who are a team that we have got nothing against so far this season.

“We’ll need to get something against them before the play-offs because you can’t really have that sort of mental baggage, coming into the latter part of the season.

“It’s nice to have a weekend off but, with the sort of form that we’ve been in, we equally, can-not wait to be back on the ice as soon as possible.”