THE climax of the Diamond Mineral Water Indoor Hockey Festival saw another outstanding display of hockey skills by Queen’s Park in the men’s final and a nail-biting finish in the women’s competition, between six-time champs Pizza Hut GCC and 2016 runners-up the Woodpecker Hikers.

The Carib Veterans category also saw Queen’s Park edge arch-rivals Vintage GCC to reverse the result of the two sides when they last met in Trinidad 10 months ago.
The men’s final saw a predictable matchup based on pool round performances and a repeat of last year’s final between the Pepsi Hikers and Queen’s Park CC. With Queen’s Park enjoying an 8-3 victory in the pool round, they entered this year’s final as underdogs seeking to win their first-ever festival.

While both sides played a good brand of hockey, the superiority of Queen’s Park was evident as they tightened the reins on the match and were up by 4-1 at halftime.
MVP Jordan Vieira of Queen’s Park and Trinidadian international Akim Toussaint produced a duo that was too much for the Hikers defence to handle.

Queen’s Park repeated their first half feat with four more goals in the second half while tournament top-scorer Aroydy Branford managed just two for his side to leave the final score at 8-3.
In the Ladies’ final, Guyana national champs Pizza Hut GCC would have their hands full against a determined Woodpecker Hikers side bolstered by the addition of two Trinidadian internationals in Alana Lewis and Brittany Hing.

The Hikers had soundly beaten GCC by 4-1 in the pool round and were poised to lift the trophy for the first time this year.
The fast-paced game, however, saw a more determined GCC who enjoyed the greater possession and won several penalty corners in the early minutes.

With the halftime score remaining at 0-0, the teams continued an even battle in the second half, but the Hikers managed to get more production out of their forwards and pressed GCC back into their defensive area as the game wore on.

Time expired on both sides, however, as they remained scoreless and had to rely on a penalty shootout to determine the winner.

Most Valuable goalkeeper of the tournament chose this moment to shine, as she successfully blocked all three Hikers’ attempts by the two Trinidadians Lewis and Hing as well as Maria Munroe’s. Tournament MVP Gabriella Xavier’s opening shootout goal for GCC was all the team needed to secure the victory for the Pizza Hut ladies.

Top-scorer of the Carib Beer Veterans’ competition, Raphael Gouveia, managed to score three of his eleven goals in the final match against Vintage GCC. Left back Jerazeno ‘Skillaxe’ Bell was in fine form orchestrating the attack and making several penetrating passes into the GCC scoring area to set his team in good stead to score.

MVP GCC’s Dwayne Scott was first to score through a penalty corner in the 3rd minute but Gouveia equalised three minutes later. This was the case twice again in the first half as every time GCC found a way through the Queens’ Park defence to score, the Trinidadians would respond with a goal of their own.

Queen’s Park surged ahead in the second half with three unanswered goals and just as the match seemed out of reach for the Bourda side, GCC managed to pull two goals back, with less than one-minute remaining.

Time was the enemy for Vintage GCC as the final buzzer saw Queen’s Park pull off the 6-5 victory.
Jordan Vieira of Queen’s Park received the Most Valuable Player award for the Men’s competition while Reiza Hosein also of Queen’s Park received the Best Goalkeeper award. Aroydy Branford of the Pepsi Hikers scored the most goals of the competition.

Pizza Hut GCC swept the individual awards in the ladies’ competition with Gabriella Xavier picking up the Most Valuable Player award, Briawna Gordon the Best Goalkeeper and Kerensa Fernandes the Most Goals.

Dwayne Scott was adjudged the Most Valuable Player in the Carib Veterans competition while Bryan Lee Chow of Queen’s Park received Best Goalkeeper award. Raphael Gouveia of Queen’s Park and Dwight Sullivan of Old Fort shared the Most Goals award.