Hikers’ men and GCC women triumph in GT&T National Indoor Hockey

Nov 03, 2010 Sports

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Eventual champions Hikers and GCC produced a pulsating finale to this year’s GT&T National Hockey Championships which took sudden death overtime to separate the two best teams in the country after they remained deadlocked at 2-2 after regulation time last Sunday evening, at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.

In the end, Hikers managed to break their prolonged jinx when tournament Most Valuable Player (MVP) Robert France’s astounding goal proved the decisive factor on the buzzer in the first half of extra time in a final that will long be remembered.
It was a bit of a disappointment for two-time defending champs GCC who would have harboured thoughts of retaining their title after defeating Hikers 3-0 in a pool round clash the previous day.
Despite much success in the international hockey festival that closes the hockey year, the GT&T National Championships have recently been beyond the reach of the Hikers men who last lifted the trophy way back in 2000.
Hikers began the match with great composure and seemed confident of their chances despite their loss to GCC and created a few early chances, but failed to score.
Both teams missed early opportunities, but GCC midfielder Orland Semple was the first to penetrate the Hikers defence with a well-placed shot that gave his side the lead in the 7th minute.
Hikers to their credit maintained their composure and got the breakthrough eight minutes later when Shane Samuels received a pass on the right wing and smashed a powerful shot high into the GCC net catching goalkeeper Michael Xavier on his heels.
With both sides not prepared to give an inch, the game was a battle of tactical efficiency with most of the play concentrated in mid-court, but as the half neared Hikers made a swift counter attack after some solid defending and substitute Randy Hope found himself open in the GCC scoring circle and he nonchalantly deflected a pinpoint pass into the goal for a 2-1 lead.

The second half saw more end-to-end action with several nerve wracking moments for supporters, before GCC seized the opportunity to draw even through a penalty corner in the 29th minute which was netted by Stuart Gonsalves.
No more goals were scored in regulation time so the game remained wide open and ten minutes of extra time was allotted to provide a golden goal opportunity for each side.  With both teams playing a bit safer and the first half of extra time almost coming to a close, the Hikers made a steal with five seconds on the clock and that was all the speedy Robert France needed to round his defender and flick the ball past Xavier in goal to send Hikers supporters into a thunderous roar of approval.
The women’s final saw some outstanding play from double-defending champs the GCC Tigers as they secured the three-peat with a 5-0 drubbing of Hikers.  It would have taken kryptonite to stop national sweeper Ulrica Sutherland, who resumed the attacking role for which she became renowned for early in her career and slammed home a hat-trick for GCC.
MVP Trisha Woodroffe and striker Kerensa Fernandes each scored one to round out a sterling performance for the Tigers.
The men’s second division match finished in similar style to the senior men as the Hikers pulled off the victory in extra time with an Aroydy Branford goal.
While the Hikers Randy Hope’s powerful shot was saved by GCC goalkeeper Eric Hing, the rebound fell kindly to Branford who made no mistake on the put back.
Andrew Xavier and Leonard George had secured the first two goals of the match for GCC and in the dying minutes the Hikers Randy Hope scored a double just as the match seemed to be out of their reach.  Colonel ‘Scooby Doo’ Haywood was selected as the MVP for this category for his outstanding defence.  The victory is the first for the Hikers second division side in the competition as they dethroned double defending champions Western Dragons who failed to make the final this time around.
The GCC veterans enjoyed an easy 9-4 victory over Old Fort, being led by prolific goal-scorer, MVP Stephen Fernandes.
The entertaining game enriched the tournament with the heartening re-emergence of former nationals Allan Newark, David Fernandes and Gavin Hope.
The under-19 matchup saw yet another Hikers victory as the youngsters enjoyed a 5-3 victory over GCC.  Rayon Branford was adjudged the MVP for the juniors.
The focus now turns to the season-closure being the Diamond Mineral Water International Indoor Hockey Festival as the top teams in the GT&T National Indoor will represent Guyana against the visiting clubs from the region.

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