THE 20th Edition of the Diamond Mineral Water Indoor International Hockey Festival saw one of the most thrilling conclusions to the competition as Pepsi Hikers showed why they are regarded as one of the best indoor clubs in the Region.
Pepsi Hikers, who went into the competition with nine titles to their name successfully hunted down their 10th crown.
They put on a performance worthy of the 20th staging of the competition to eclipse the Trinidad and Tobago Police Squad, 7-2.
Hikers came surging out of the blocks with goals from Aroydy Branford in the 3rd minute with a penalty strike which was doubled by skipper Robert France a minute later with his first field goal.
T&T Police Squad rebounded after the start of the second quarter with goals off the sticks of Nicholas Grant and captain Jordan Reynos levelling the scores, 2-2, and putting the pressure back on Hikers.

After the break, a rejuvenated Pepsi Hikers came out more determined and hit the mark straight away to move ahead with their skipper France leading the way with his second field goal.
Phillip Herings then extended Hikers’ lead before the Jamarj Assanah show began.
Assanah, after several near misses earlier in the clash was unstoppable, scoring a searing hat-trick to take the game away from the Trinidad side, 7-2.
Jamarj Assanah, speaking to Chronicle Sport after the game, said: “It felt amazing; the guys went out and upped their game and we just kept the energy really high. Over the past few years, we had a few players missing; they came back with all that energy… We felt familiar with each other; comfortable with each other, and we just keep it up, because, we knew we had to put everything out there. And that is what we did; we have been hunting our 10th diamond for years, and this is extremely special, because we finally achieve it.”
Meanwhile, in the Masters Category, T&T Masters needed a penalty shoot to overcome GCC Vintage in the Masters over 50 category.

T&T’s Roger Daniel scored a double, with Shawn Alexander scoring the other goal for the T&T side.
Anthony Solomon, Alan Fernandes, and Devin Hooper scored for GCC Vintage. The contest was 3-3 at the end of regulation time, but T&T won it in the shootout. 2-0.
The over-40 Masters final featured GCC the Sequel and Hikers.
Hickers’ Jerazeno Bell opened their account for the early lead, but it was short-lived, as GCC’s Kevin Spencer scored the equaliser.
The sea-saw battle continued for much of the clash before Hickers closed it out in the end, 4-3.

Bell would finish with a double for Hickers, with Robert France and Randy Hope scoring the other goals.
In the women open final, it was another scorcher when GBTI GCC and Saints hockey clubs battled it out.
Saints’ Africo Blackman was the first to put one at the back of the net with her strike in the 13th minute.
GBTI GCC’s Gabriella Xavier then leveled the scores a few minutes later, 1-1,
Saints Number 10 Clayza Bobb then gave Saints the advantage with her penalty strike to make it 2-1 before Xavier scored again.
Makeda Harding followed with a field goal of her own to make it 3-2 as they looked to clinch the win.
However Saints Charlia Webb would spoil those plans when she converted a penalty corner in the last minute of the game to tie the contest, and force penalty shoot-outs with the scores level on 3-3.
In the shoot-out, Saints proved flawless to record a 3-1 victory.