Pepsi Hikers, Queen’s Park frontrunners for Men’s title

As the final day of the Diamond Mineral Water Indoor Hockey Festival beckons, the Pepsi Hikers secured the top spot in the Men’s division at the completion of the pool round on Saturday evening at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.

So close was the final placements that it came down to goal difference between them and second placed Queen’s Park. Trinidad and Tobago (TTDF) finished in third position and will face Queen’s Park in the first semi-final, while fourth place Bounty GCC will face the Hikers in the second.

George United played unbeaten in the ExxonMobil Ladies division to finish on top of the table and will play against fourth-placed Saints in one semi-final, while the other will be an all-GCC clash with the GBTI GCC Tigers finishing in second and the Spartans in third.

Unbeaten Queen’s Park faces the only team to muster a draw against them, fourth placed Fatima, in the first semi-final of the Lucozade Veterans division. Local powerhouses Old Old Fort and Vintage GCC, finishing second and third respectively, will contest the other semi-final.

The surprise of the day’s play probably can be attributed to the Bounty GCC 7-2 victory over the vastly improved YMCA Old Fort, who had easily won the last time the two teams played one month ago in the GTT National Championships.

GCC never seemed genuinely threatened as they held the lead from inception and while Old Fort did have their chances, they could not match the offensive force of GCC. Quite predictably, Queen’s Park got the better of the youthful Saints 6-2, while the Hikers etched out a victory over TTDF 6-5.

George United made light work of their double opponents of the day, first defeating the Spartans 9-2 and then Saints 9-0 to secure the top spot in the ExxonMobil Women’s competition.

The lone Lucozade Veterans match saw an impressive 8-3 victory for Queen’s Park over Vintage GCC. The match promised to be more competitive in the beginning, but the second half was all one-way traffic as Queen’s Park stamped their dominance on a tired looking Vintage.

The semi-finals of the three divisions begin on Sunday at 11:00h, while the first of three finals commence at 16:40h.