Pepsi Hikers men, Toronto Toros women secure titles

… Bal-wash-ers take Veterans title

FOLLOWING their pool round clash, which many considered to have been the match of the tournament thus far, Guyana’s Pepsi Hikers and Queen’s Park of Trinidad & Tobago squared off in a tense men’s final of the Diamond Mineral Water Hockey Festival on Sunday evening at the National Gymnasium.

The teams began dead even just as they had finished their first duel which saw several lead changes, only to finish with a tied score on 5-5.
Just four minutes into the match, powerful Randy Hope received a ball on the right of the scoring circle and dispatched his shot cleanly into the Queen’s Park net past diving goalkeeper Reiza Hussein.
Although top Trinidadian national striker, Akim Toussant drew his team level with a goal in the very next minute, the Hikers responded with two more of their own in less than two minutes from MVP Aroydy Branford and captain Robert France.

The high-paced game seemed to be leaning in Hikers’ favour and despite some fine goalkeeping at both ends, Queen’s Park Dominic executed an accurate penalty corner shot to give Queen’s Park their second goal while Hope smashed home his second to move the score to 4-2 for the Hikers.
The second half saw no letting up by either side and the crowd continued to enjoy blistering counterattacks and an abundance of goals. Young Trinidadian international Jordan Vieira was first on the sheet in the second half as he foiled a Hikers attack, dished a pass to Toussant, and outsprinted his marker down court to finish with a diving deflection goal.

Robert France, however, restored the two-goal cushion for the Hikers with a penalty corner deflection in the 28th minute nudging the score to 5-3.
Vieira scored his second at the 30th minute mark and Hope his third immediately after, for Queen’s Park and Hikers respectively, as supporters were held at the edge of their seats.
Two goals from striker Toussant and Trinidad Under-21 captain Jordan Reynos for Queen’s Park drew the scores level with five minutes remaining in the match. With the momentum in their favour, Queen’s Park could have secured their first lead of the match when they earned a crucial penalty stroke drawing a deafening uproar from supporters of both sides, either in support or disapproval.

The diminutive Toussant stepped forward to take the stroke against the towering Jason Hoyte in goal for the Hikers, and eventual Best Goalkeeper Award winner Hoyte produced for his side when it was needed most with a save to his right.
Hoyte’s heroics seemed to inject a shot of adrenaline into his teammates who continued their relentless search for the final goal.
Fittingly, it was the veteran Devin Munroe who was instrumental in all six previous festival wins for the Hikers, to close out Queen’s Park and the match with a terrific shot from the right. With just four minutes remaining, Queen’s Park launched several futile attacks and the final whistle saw the Pepsi Hikers earn their record seventh men’s title.

The ladies final, though entertaining, did not prove to be quite as competitive as the men’s with the Toronto Toros crushing the Woodpecker Hikers by 5-1.
After an opening penalty corner goal in the second minute of play, competition MVP and Highest Goal Scorer, Toros right-back Kaelan Watson punctuated her performance with the final goal of the match in similar fashion 35 minutes later.
Teammate Danica Jayme managed a hat-trick of goals for the Toros to complete their five goals while Hikers guest player Allana Lewis managed their lone goal through a penalty corner early in the second half of the match.

The veterans final between Queen’s Park and the Bal-wash-ers was another one to go the distance with the final score of regulation time was dead even at 4-4.
After all six attempts were saved in the resulting first round of a penalty shootout, Bal-wash-er Inderjeet Bath and teammate Jesse Larson pulled off the win, both scoring in the sudden-death round of the shootout.
In the veterans division, Gregory Garroway (Bal-wash-ers) was awarded the Best Goalkeeper with most goals going to Rafael Gouveia (Queen’s Park) and the MVP to Jerazeno Bell (Queen’s Park).

In the Ladies’ division, Latoya Fordyce (Woodpecker Hikers) was the best goalkeeper with Most Goals and MVP going to Kaelan Watson (Toronto Toros) while on the male side of things, Best Goalkeeper went to Jason Hoyte (Pepsi Hikers), Most Goals Jordan Vieira (Queen’s Park), and MVP Aroydy Branford (Pepsi Hikers).