Igloo Hockey Festival being staged by the GCC Hockey got off to an exciting start yesterday at Bourda. The festival, the first of its kind being played on a miniature artificial hockey surface drew a sizable crowd of supporters to watch players from as young as 6 years-old right up to those in their forties.
In the morning proceedings, GCC Speed Racers defeated the GCC Gummy Bears by 5–2 in their final match of the under-8 mixed category. Seven year old Grant Fernandes was in top form as he registered 6 goals in two matches to finish as the leading scorer.
In the under-10 mixed category Hikers turned the tables on GCC Thunderbolts after losing to them in the early rounds. Hikers held on for a 0-0 draw at full time setting up the jubilant Federico Cush to score the winning goal in a penalty shootout for the Hikers victory.
Saints Girls and Boys teams impressed on the opening day in the under-14 division. In the girls category, Saints and the GCC Warriors put in the most remarkable scores on day one in the girls under-14 competition enabling both teams to advance to the semi-finals (yesterday) Sunday against the Titans and the Flash respectively.
The under-14 boys division saw another dominant performance by Saints who made it to the semi-finals. Justin Dookie of Saints B was the competition’s top scorer of the day with 5 goals to his credit. Newcomers Phoenix HC however looks the team to beat and can prove worthy opponents for Saints on the second day of competition.
GCC Spartans upset Old Fort Shooting Stars when they secured an unexpected 5–2 victory in the girls under-17 competition. Newcomer
The under-10 champions in all smiles
Sarah Klauty showed good speed and skills for the Spartans in attack while Mickelly Rahaman was solid in defence. These two sides will meet again where the Carolyn Deane led Stars will be challenged to find a solution for the audacious young Spartans. The GCC Rebels, Old Fort and Phoenix emerged unbeaten after the first day of the boys’ under-17 competition. They will be joined by Saints in the semi-finals on Sunday.
In an exhilarating encounter, Old Fort Shooting Stars had their best showing in the girls’ under-21 division by defeating the powerful Hikers by 2-1. Carolyn Deane was in form again in this division as she claimed both of the goals for the victorious side. In the boys’ under-21, the GCC Rebels seem to be favourites going into the second day with a 10–3 hammering of Saints. Hikers and Old Fort both made the semi-finals with an exciting 6-6 draw featuring amazing displays of skill by junior nationals Aroydy Branford and Omar Hopkinson.
The open division of both male and female competitions saw two amazing battles both end on even scores between arch-rivals GCC and Hikers. Pizza Hut GCC who was crowd favourites were stunned in the opening minutes of the female matchup when Hikers carved home three unanswered goals in the opening minutes of the game. Led by an inspirational performance by striker Gabriella Xavier, who finished with a match-leading 4 goals, the Pizza Hut ladies clawed their way back into the match in the second half.
Hikers’ national midfielders Maria Munroe and Marisha Fernandes would stretch GCC to their limit to deny the Hikers a win as their stellar performances took the game to the wire ending in a final score of 5-5.
In similar fashion to the females match, it was the GCC men who scored first against pre-match favourites the Hikers.
After closing the gap in short time, Hikers national striker Shane Samuels kept nudging his side ahead with some fine individual finishes but the surprising hero for GCC came in the form of junior Daniel Hooper who managed to neutralize the Hikers in defence and net a hat trick of his own. The men’s final score mimicked that of the ladies at 5-5 setting up an exciting final day when Old Fort, Saints and Vintage join the stage.
