Hikers upstaged GCC to win the men’s division of the Guyana Telecommunication and Telegraph Company’s (GT&T) National Indoor Championships which concluded on Sunday at the National Gymnasium, Mandela Avenue.According to a release from the Guyana Hockey Board (GHB), the final of the three categories contested, produced some of the most exciting and entertaining hockey seen in a long time and a single goal separated the victors from the silver medalists in two of the three categories that were contested with matches being held in the balance until the very end.
The highly anticipated men’s first division matchup between GCC and the Pepsi Hikers was a repeat of many finals in recent years as the two clubs, both with vociferous cheering sections, squared off yet again for the chance to win gold. The teams had played to a tense 3-3 draw in their pool round clash on the opening night and now returned in the final where an outright winner would be crowned.
GCC got off to the mark, first in the seventh minute, when pool round top scorer Orland Semple successfully executed a penalty corner shot into the Hikers’ net. The Hikers lifted their work rate over the next few minutes and were rewarded four minutes later when Jamarj Assanah and Robert France both replied within a minute of each other to give the Hikers a 2-1 lead.
Dwayne Scott drew the match even at 2-2 in the 13th minute, and Kevin Spencer produced a remarkable goal for GCC to even the match by skillfully outwitting a plethora of defenders before sending his shot past goalkeeper Jason Hoyte to take GCC into halftime with a 3-2 lead.
GCC seemed to settle into a comfortable defensive position as they met every Hikers’ challenge with astute defense and composure. The Hikers however, would win a penalty corner three minutes into the second half and would have to rely on specialist Shane Samuels to break the deadlock.
With the pressure of advancing goalkeeper Rawl Davson blocking most of the goals, Samuels produced a stunning finish that flew like a bullet into the top far corner of the GCC net.
Samuels’ goal seemed to awaken GCC once again who enjoyed a dominant period where Dwayne Scott and Devin Hooper would swing the game to 5-3 in GCC’s favour in the 26th and 28th minute with a pair of goals. The Hikers refused to crumble to the pressure and Jamarj Assanah would respond just two minutes later to set up a crescendo by Samuels.
As the Hikers earned two penalty corners in the 34th and 37th minutes, Samuels reproduced his fine form in nailing both strikes to take his team into the lead for the final time at 6-5. GCC withdrew their goalkeeper in the dying minutes in favour of an extra field player to gain the attacking advantage but the Hikers absorbed their attack and Devin Munroe’s counterattack saw the Hikers score their final goal just before the buzzer for the 7-5 win.
The ladies final produced another thriller with the GCC Tigers opposing their counterparts the GCC Panthers.
The match soon became a duel between Tigers Captain Sonia Jardine, who finished on a hat-trick, and energetic Panthers striker and eventual Most Valuable Player (MVP), Shebiki Baptiste who scored all four of the Panthers’ goals for the win.
After scoring the opening goal in the seventh minute, the Tigers would see Baptiste level the scores on three occasions throughout the match before scoring the winner four minutes from full time with each goal celebration eclipsing the previous one and the crowd responded in appreciation.
The Old Fort men out-dueled the Hikers earlier in the evening for the men’s second division crown, while the Hikers were first on the board through overlapping defender Rayon Branford, Old Fort’s Jason Clarke and Jael Gaskin secured the victory in the 26th and 28th minute to claim the gold.
At the end of the evening, several individual awards were presented along with the winner’s trophies and medals by Anjanie Hackett, GTT’s Manager of Marketing and Public Relations.
The Most Promising Male Player award went to Omar Hopkinson, while Minsodia Culpepper won the award on the distaff side.