… Hikers Generals pull off third win
THE smoke has begun to settle as we see clear front-runners emerge when the 2019 Noble House Goals Galore Indoor Hockey Championships continued on Wednesday evening at the National Gymnasium.
The Hikers Generals pulled off their third win of the men’s competition to remain unbeaten and atop pool B with 6 points, while Vintage GCC and the PEPSI Hikers lead Pool A with similar records.
On the ladies’ side the GBTI GCC Tigers rebounded from a loss in their opening match to lead the table 6 points after their victory over YMCA OFHC Bellatrix.
The Hikers Generals took the floor against the SHC Splinters in the men’s Pool B with both teams on an even 9-goal handicap.
The Splinters had disposed of defending champs Bounty GCC on the opening night and would be a sound challenge for the Generals who were also coming off a victory over YMCA OFHC Top Form.
The Generals controlled the game from the outset, scoring two goals in the first half from Devin Munroe and Sherwyn Caesar, compared to just a single from Hilton Chester, captain of the Splinters.
Nkhruma Hutson drew the scores even with an early second half goal for the Splinters but Munroe put the game beyond reach with two more goals for the Generals to complete his hat-trick while Caesar added a second in the closing minutes.
The 14-12 victory moves the Generals to the top of the Pool going into the fourth evening of the competition.
The highlight match of the evening was a high-paced and thrilling encounter between defending champs Bounty GCC and the talented YMCA OFHC Top Form.
With Top Form enjoying a 2-goal advantage from the start, GCC drew the scores even in the first 15 minutes through a double by Kareem Mckenzie.
GCC went one ahead one minute before the half when Shaquille Leung slammed home his team’s third to leave scores at 6-5 to Bounty GCC.
Omar Hopkinson drew the scores for the second time in the first minute of resumption with a penalty corner for Top Form and young prolific goalscorer Warren Williams added a second to move Top Form ahead by one.
The Bounty boys drew even for the third time through Meshach Sargeant and then a fourth and final time as Hopkinson and Kevin Spencer scored a final goal each for Top Form and GCC respectively.
After a close and hard-fought match, the teams had to settle for an 8-8 draw.
Two YMCA teams faced each other in the next men’s fixture which saw the YMCA OFHC Champs edge the YMCA OFHC Pacesetters by 16-15. The victory was the first of the competition for the Champs. The PEPSI Hikers continued their form with a 13-10 beating of the SHC Slick Sticks.
With the Slick Sticks enjoying an 8-goal handicap, it took the Hikers to the last five minutes to secure the victory but they made it a productive five minutes to take their total to 13.
Aroydy Branford was once again the leading scorer of the match with 7 goals.
In the ladies; competition, defending champs GBTI GCC Tigers dominated newcomers YMCA OFHC Bellatrix with a 16-9 victory.
With the Bellatrix beginning the match with a nine-goal handicap and the Tigers with three, the scores were even by the half.
The Tigers continued their onslaught with seven more unanswered goals in the second half of the match.
Saints and YMCA OFHC Wolves were the other ladies’ matchup of the evening and both sides began with an even 5-goal handicap.
Several misses, and neither team scored and the match finished on a 5-5 stalemate.
