Excitement and entertainment abound in 3rd night’s play

GTT National Indoor Hockey Championships…

Excitement and entertainment abounded as the GTT National Indoor Hockey Championships continued for a third night at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall on Homestretch Avenue in Georgetown.

In the First Division Men’s category, Pepsi Hikers defeated their rivals Bounty GCC 6-4 in an electrifying event; while action in the counterpart Ladies’ category saw GBTI GCC Spice continue their dominance by edging out their junior counterparts GBTI GCC Spartans 3-2; and GBTI GCC Tigers demolished Saints 5-0.
Action in the Second Division Men’s category saw YMCA Old Fort Top Form being silenced by Saints Silencers 5-0, while the Bounty GCC Pitbulls mauled YMCA Old Fort Hard Ball 7-0; and in the Vets category, Antonio’s Hikers drew 4-4 with YMCA Old Fort Hot Shotz.
In the Men’s First Division action, Aroydy Branford netted five goals for Pepsi Hikers, one goal short of securing a double hat-trick; and a lone goal was contributed by teammate Robert France to enable the defeat of Bounty GCC 6-4.
The game got off to a fiery start, with Aroydy Branford opening the score for Pepsi Hikers in the 4th minute, before increasing their lead to two-nil with a goal scored in the 7th minute.
Bounty GCC pressed on, and the calm, experienced Dwayne Scott netted a penalty stroke in the 9th minute. Pepsi Hikers nevertheless continued to showcase their skills, and in the 17th minute, Robert France extended their lead to 3-1, which remained unchanged at the end of the first half.
A determined Bounty GCC, however, fought back, and levelled the scores at 3-3 with goals from Orland Semple in the 13th minute and Kevin Spencer in the 25th minute.
But Hikers regained the lead when Aroydy Branford scored goals in the 26th and 27th minutes to push the score to 5-3. GCC then narrowed that lead to one with a field goal from young Mesach Sargeant, who found the back of the net in the 35th minute. Hikers, however, kept the momentum up, and in the final minute of the game, Aroydy Branford made no mistake with his penalty corner, which sealed the victory for Pepsi Hikers.
In the night’s first match of the Ladies’ First Division action, a scintillating clash ensued between GBTI GCC Spartans and GBTI GCC Spice.
Swift and feline, Shebiki Baptiste found the back of the net in the 6th minute, enabling GBTI GCC Spice to take the lead. Shortly thereafter, her teammate Sandy Roopnarine scored a field goal, extending that lead to 2-nil.
Undaunted, GBTI GCC Spartans responded in the 23rd minute when Sarah Klautky converted a penalty corner to reduce the lead to 2-1, thus applying pressure on the GCC Spice. One minute later, a brilliant build-up from the Spartans enabled Abosaide Cadogan to level the scores.
The tussle between the teams continued until Shebiki Baptiste, heroine of the GCC Spice, found the back of the net in the 36th minute to ensure defeat of the Spartans by a margin of 3 goals to 2.
In the Ladies’ First Division second match of the night, Marzana Fiedtkou netted a hat-trick of goals and Gabriella Xavier scored two goals in the GBTI GCC Tigers’ mauling of the Saints.
Having opened the scoring in the 3rd minute with a skilfully placed penalty corner, Marzana Fiedtkou doubled the Tigers’ lead with a 9th minute goal; and the first half of play ended with the scoreline reading 2-Nil.
In second-half play, Saints attempted a fightback but seemingly could not find the back of the net; and to compound their misfortune, a defensive error caused a penalty stroke to be awarded to the Tigers.
Marzana Fiedtkou, though, fired the ball unerringly past Nia Williams and into the net, to take the score to 3-Nil. And Gabriella Xavier, with nimble stick work, made light work of the Saints’ defence as she scored field goals in the 36th and 39th minutes to engineer the game ending on 5-0 in favour of the GCC Tigers.
YMCA Old Fort Hot Shotz drew with Antonio’s Hikers 4-4 in an exhilarating veterans’ match. Jason De Santos led his team to the front with a field goal scored in the 3rd minute of the game; and it wasn’t until the 18th minute that the Hikers were able to respond with a field goal from Rene Edwards.
In the 20th minute, Old Fort were awarded a penalty, and the confident Jason De Santos easily found the back of the net to take the score to 2-1.
Hikers, however, levelled the scores in the 21st minute with a field goal from Devin Munroe.
The game intensified when Old Fort regained the lead in the 22nd minute with a field goal from John Abrahams. Their short-lived celebrations ended in the 23rd minute when the Hikers, through excellent build-up of play, levelled the scores at 3-all, with Nicolette Fernandes making no mistake in finding the back of the net.
Jason De Santos, with his hat-trick goal, finally broke the deadlock and converted a penalty corner for Old Fort to take the score to 4-3.
But the game was not over, because the mythical fat lady had not yet sung her tune; and in the dying seconds of the game, the Hikers were awarded a penalty corner.
Captain Devin Munroe, shouldering the weight of the Hikers’ earnest expectations, and with the game on the line, fortuitously found the back of the net to secure the draw for his team and end the game on 4-All.
In Second Division matches, Bounty GCC Pitbulls destroyed YMCA Old Fort Hall Ball 7-Nil, with goals coming from Mesach Sargeant, Kareem McKenzie, Rahim Oliver, John Phang and Samuel Woodroffe.
YMCA Old Fort Top Form defeated the Saints Silencers by 5 goals to nil, with goals coming from Omar Hopkinson, Chris Low-Koan, Theodore Thierens and Daniel Wolford.
Matches in this tournament continue all week at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall, and the finals are set for Sunday evening.