It was a night of mixed fortunes for clubs participating in the 13th Diamond Mineral Water Hockey Festival at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
The ruthless Pepsi Hikers put on another impressive show of hockey skills on Thursday as they chalked up their second victory in of the tournament over Bounty GCC
The marquee matchup did not disappoint the crowd as the game saw action throughout the match with a fine display of skill from both teams and an exciting finish. In the very first minute of play, the GCC men seemed to be caught sleeping as a Shane Samuels pass from deep defence found a free Robert France in the scoring circle. France made a swift drag to his right before sending his shot into the net past the advancing GCC goalkeeper Medroy Scotland.
Although GCC would equalize five minutes later through a Peter DeGroot penalty stroke, the Hikers kept themselves ahead ever so slightly throughout the match with GCC keeping themselves within striking distance. The Hikers scored three more field goals in the half through Randy Hope, Quin Clarke and a brilliant solo run by Shane Samuels while GCC’s Dwayne Scott scored once more for GCC. With the halftime score at 4-2 in favour of the Hikers, each team would manage to add 4 more to their tally in the high-scoring affair that saw the Hikers emerge with the 8-6 victory.
Dominique De Groot of Pizza Hut GCC battles with an Old Fort player
Hikers Captain France and Shane Samuels added one each to their first half totals while Aroydy Branford and Devin Munroe completed the team’s list of goal scorers. GCC’s Peter DeGroot scored twice more to complete a hatrick for the match while Mark Sargeant and Orland Semple were the other goal scorers.
Earlier GCC Vintage took on Antonio’s Hickers and dispatched of them 6-2. Patrick Edghill bagged a hat-trick while Alan Fernandes, Phillip Fernandes and Dwayne Scott netted a goal apiece. The Hickers goals came courtesy of Devin Munroe and Alex Gouveia.
The Pizza Hut GCC Ladies disposed of Old Fort Shooting Stars 6-2. Three goals in both halves ensured that Pizza Hut took away maximum points. Kerensa Fernandes was once again among the goals netting a hat-trick while her teammates Tiffany Solomon, Carina Moller and Gabriella Xavier had a goal each. Scoring for Old Fort was Candacy Glen and Minsodia Culpepper.
In the Men’s division Old Fort were dominant with a 7-2 win over Saints. Jason De Santos and Jason Clark bagged a brace each for the winners with Jael Gaskin, Omar Hopkinson and Akeem Hope scoring a goal each.
Hilton Chester and Edmond Chinian were the scorers for Saints.
The Queens Park Hockey club out of Trinidad was ruthless in their 13-1 win over Mixed Nuts.
Scoring for Queens Park was Jordan Veira, Akim Toussaint, Matthew Tang Nian and Mahinder Malli while Onasis Fraser had the only goal for the Mixed Nuts.
Action continues daily at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall until Sunday when the finals will be played.
