THE mighty Pepsi Hikers put on another impressive show of hockey skills on Thursday evening. They chalked up their second victory in as many nights when the Diamond Mineral Water Indoor Hockey Festival resumed at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
Queen’s Park CC were the other big winners of the evening in the men’s category, setting up a possible exciting climax of the two finalists from last year’s event.

The marquee matchup of the evening between the Pepsi Hikers and Bounty GCC did not disappoint the crowd, as the game saw action throughout the match with a fine display of skills from both teams and an exciting finish.
In the very first minute of play, the GCC men were caught napping, as a Shane Samuels pass from deep defence found a free Robert France in the scoring circle. France made a swift drag to his right before sending his shot into the net past the advancing GCC goalkeeper Medroy Scotland.

Although GCC equalised five minutes later through a Peter DeGroot penalty stroke, the Hikers kept themselves ahead ever so slightly throughout the match with GCC keeping themselves within striking distance.
The Hikers scored three more field goals in the half through Randy Hope, Quin Clarke and a brilliant solo run by Shane Samuels while GCC’s Dwayne Scott scored once more for GCC.
With the halftime score at 4-2 in favour of the Hikers, each team managed to add four more to their tally in the high-scoring affair that saw the Hikers emerge with the 8-6 victory.

Hikers captain France and Shane Samuels added one each to their first half totals while Aroydy Branford and Devin Munroe completed the team’s list of goal scorers.
GCC’s Peter DeGroot scored twice again to complete a hat-trick for the match while Mark Sargeant and Orland Semple were the other goalscorers.

Queen’s Park CC, the 2016 silver medallists, turned the Mixed Nuts into parched nuts as they scorched the young side by 13-1 in their men’s division clash.
Trinidadian international Akim Toussaint was the high-scorer for the match with five goals to his name. Teammates Matthew Tang-Nian and Mahinder Malli scored doubles while Cade Lue Sue, Jordan Vieira, Kadeem Fortune and Michael Durity each scored a single for Queen’s Park CC.

Onassis Fraser brought loud cheers from the crowd when he scored the lone goal for Mixed Nuts.
The Old Fort men, coming off a narrow defeat the previous evening against the Pepsi Hikers, released their frustration on Saints HC in their 7-2 victory.

In the lone ladies fixture of the evening the Pizza Hut GCC ladies brushed off the Old Fort Shooting Stars with a 6-2 victory.
Matches continue throughout the weekend with the finals being played from 17.00hrs on Sunday November 26.