Hikers scored a 3 – 2 victory over GCC in the men’s first division finals clash but the GCC ladies dashed their hopes for a clean sweep in the women’s final of the GT&T Indoor Hockey Tournament held on Sunday night at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
According to a press release, while twice defending champions GCC seemed poised for another year of victory in the first division contention, stiff competition from the Hikers saw them reaping triumph off a critical final goal from MVP Robert France in overtime.
Despite coming off a 3 – 0 whipping from GCC in a pool round match, this time 40 minutes was not enough to establish a clear winner as the teams worked their way to a 2 – 2 draw by the end time buzzer. It was the GCC side that opened the account with a 7th minute field goal delivered by Orland Semple but the Hikers would remain composed and rebut eight minutes later when Shane Samuels received a pass on the right wing and rocketed his shot high into the GCC net, catching goalkeeper Michael Xavier on his heels.
The Hikers then put GCC in the hole by half-time off an easy deflection goal by Randy Hope. In second half, GCC restored balance off a penalty conversion from Stuart Gonsalves that closed goal-scoring for the game time, to send the game to its sudden death playoff. And, in the dying seconds of overtime, with only five seconds remaining the Hikers made a steal to give France the opportunity he needed to get around his defender and flick the ball past Xavier in goal to send the Hikers supporters into a thunderous roar of approval.
With better luck on the women’s side the GCC Tigers registered their third year as title holders as Hikers were dealt a 5 – 0 thrashing, heftily supplied by a hat-trick produced by Ulrica Sutherland. MVP Trisha Woodroffe and striker Kerensa Fernandes each scored one to round out a sterling performance for the Tigers.
In the senior men’s second division, the Hikers took a 3 – 2 victory over the GCC side. A duplicate of the first division match, it would be an extra time goal from Aroydy Branford that would hand Hikers the game. GCC once again opened the scoring and with goals from Andrew Xavier and Leonard George Hikers went down by two before Branford would gain a goal for them with a rebound after a power shot from Randy Hope that was saved by GCC goalkeeper Eric Hing.
Just as the Hikers seemed doomed for defeat an equalizer would come from Randy Hope to send the game into overtime where Branford would lead Hikers to a win. The victory is the first for the Hikers second division side in the competition as they dethroned double defending champions the Western Dragons who failed to make the final this time around. Colonel ‘Scooby Doo’ Haywood was selected as the MVP for this category for his outstanding defence.
In the veterans category, the GCC team took an easy 9-4 victory over the Old Fort vets which was led by prolific goal scorer, MVP Stephen Fernandes. The entertaining game enriched the tournament with the heartening re-emergence of former nationals Allan Newark, David Fernandes and Gavin Hope.
The under-19 match up saw yet another Hikers victory as the youngsters enjoyed a 5-3 victory over GCC. Rayon Branford was adjudged the MVP in this category. The focus now turns to the season-closure; the Diamond Mineral Water International Indoor Hockey Festival as the top teams in the GT&T National Indoor will represent Guyana against the visiting clubs from the region.
