The mighty Pepsi Hikers put on another impressive show of hockey skills on Thursday evening as they chalked up their second victory in as many nights as the Diamond Mineral Water Indoor Hockey Festival resumed at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
Queens Park CC was the other big winner of the evening in the Men’s category, setting up a possible exciting climax of the two finalists from last year’s event.
The marquee match-up of the evening between the Pepsi Hikers and Bounty GCC did not disappoint the crowd as the game saw action throughout, with a fine display of skill from both teams and an exciting finish.
In the very first minute of play, GCC seemed to be caught asleep 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 equalise five minutes later through a Peter DeGroot penalty, 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 half-time score at 4-2 in favour of the Hikers, each team would manage to add four more to their tally in the high-scoring affair that saw the Hikers emerge with an 8-6 victory.
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 two more to complete a hat-trick for the match, while Mark Sargeant and Orland Semple were the other goal scorers.
2016 silver medallist Queens Park CC turned the Mixed Nuts into parched nuts as they scorched the young side by 13-1 in their Men’s division clash.
Trinidadian international Akim Toussaint was the high-scorer for the match with five goals to his name; teammates Matthew Tang-Nian and Mahinder Malli scored doubles, while Cade Lue Sue, Jordan Vieira, Kadeem Fortune and Michael Durity each scored singles for QPCC. Onassis Fraser brought loud cheers from the crowd in scoring the lone goal for Mixed Nuts.
The Old Fort men, coming off a narrow defeat the previous evening against the Pepsi Hikers, exacted their frustration on Saints HC in their 7-2 victory. Although Saints drew even in the 10th minute after an early Old Fort Goal, the game would soon slip from their grasp as Old Fort were up by two goals at the half and then by five at full time.
Jason DeSantos and Ascofu Simon scored twice each for Old Fort, while Jael Gaskin, Omar Hopkinson and Akeem Hope completed the tally. Captain Hilton Chester and the young exciting Edmond Chinian scored for Saints.
The lone Ladies fixture of the evening saw the Pizza Hut GCC ladies brush off the Old Fort Shooting Stars with a 6-2 victory. With the Stars looking for their first win of the competition, the high-scoring Pizza Hut ladies leapt out in from by the fifth minute through national striker Kerensa Fernandes. While Old Fort’s Candacy Glen managed to level the scores in the eight minute, GCC would rattle off four more unanswered goals before Old Fort could score again.
GCC would finish with a sixth goal in the final minute as Fernandes completed her hat-trick to close the match as leading scorer. Gabriella Xavier, Carina Moller and Tiffany Solomon were the other goal scorers for GCC, while captain Mino Culpepper scored the second Old Fort goal.
The GCC Vintage crushed Antonio’s Hickers in the Vets fixture of the evening. The Hickers were first on the score sheet when Devin Munroe produced some skilful individual play to stun the Vintage in the third minute.
The Vintage however, led by a hat-trick from Patrick Edghill stormed back to a 6-2 victory at full time. Alan Fernandes, Dwayne Scott and Philip Fernandes completed the GCC tally, while Alex Gouveia scored the second for the Hickers.
Matches continue throughout the weekend with the finals being played from 17:00h on Sunday November 26.
