By Rawle Toney
The Guyana Hockey Board’s (GHB) annual Diamond Mineral Water International Indoor Hockey Festival came to an exciting end last evening at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
An energized crowd at the venue saw defending champions Hikers holding off a fighting Old Fort 7-6 to retain the men’s team title while Malvern of Trinidad and Tobago came from behind to defeat GCC Flora 3-2 in overtime.
In the veterans encounter, GCC stopped Old Fort 4-3 to lift the championship.
In the ladies game, Malvern, of the Twin-Island Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, seemed no match for the Guyanese ladies who went ahead early through Sonia Jardine in the 14th minute.
Four minutes later, veteran Tricia Fiedtkou pushed the Guyanese further into the lead with the team’s second goal.
Ironically, it would be their only goals for the rest of the game.
The second half saw a more composed Malvern team who pressed forward more than in the first half and it was Landie Fourie who found the opening for the visiting team in the 29th minute on a counter attack.
Penny Stephens then scored the equaliser in the 36th minute with a beautiful flick past the GCC `keeper after a technical error on the Guyanese club’s defence.
Coach Philip Fernandes was forced to call in his ladies in an attempt to cool the heat from the Trinidadians stick.
Regulation time eventually came and the game went into sudden death extra time; five minutes a half.
Some dying efforts by both teams came up short and the first half of extra time came to a close.
However, it was not long before Stephens got a break away and took the GCC `keeper one on one and the rest was history.
Stephens dropped to the floor and it was a Carnival atmosphere at the venue as the `Trini’s’ celebrated in ecstatic fashion while the GCC ladies’ dropped faces expressed their disappointment after playing so well in the initial stages of the tournament.
The men’s championship certainly lived up to expectations as the Hikers showed exactly why they were the defending champions with a drooling win over Old Fort.
Hikers went ahead with a first minute goal by Robert France but Old Fort bounced back strong with Canadian National Player Jonathon Roberts who flicked in a double (3rd and 6th minutes) to give his side the lead.
But Hikers’ marksman Devin Munroe, pulled the scores level 2-2 in the 13th minute as the two sides ended the half locked on goals.
However in the second half it was goals galore – Askofu Simon (29th minute) drew first blood for the losers but seconds later Alex Gouveia (29th minute) kept his team in the game.
Munroe racked up his hat-trick when he blasted in two goals in succession (30th and 31st minutes) and Quin Clarke (37th minute) hooked one in as the Hikers took a 6-3 lead with the game nearing its climax.
Old Fort showed their toughness nevertheless and their fighting efforts paid off with Nicolas Wren (36th minute) and Roberts in the 39th leveling the score again. By this time, the game clock was counting down in seconds.
Shane Samuels scored a beauty when he flicked home a hard shot from outside in the 40th minute which would eventually turned out to be the game winner.
Over in the veterans match up, GHB President Phillip Fernandes (7th and 38th minutes) and Damion Woodroffe (13th and 18th minutes) netted two goals each for GCC.
Ivor Thompson (22), Dexter Wyles (25) and Chris Low Koan (26) were the scorers for Old Fort.
