Excitement defines opening night of ExxonMobil National Indoor Hockey Championships

Teams shared the spoils on the opening night of the ExxonMobil National Indoor Championships as hockey had its long-anticipated return to local competition after almost a two-year hiatus.

The Pepsi Hikers were their usual dominant selves as they amassed the largest victory margin of the entire tournament over ‘50 Not Out’ with their 10-3 win in the Men’s First Division competition.

The Guyana 40s surprised the speedy YMCA Old Fort with a 3-0 victory, while Saints made it hard work for Bounty GCC in the early going, but faded to lose 1-3, completing the night of First Division matches.

The Hikers looked the coolest on show and their victory was never in doubt as national strike trio of Jamarj Assanah, Captain Robert France and the diminutive Aroydy Branford raided the 50 Not Out goal continuously.

National Women’s goalkeeper Alysa Xavier however, the only female in the Men’s competition due to her quality, managed to make several fine saves to keep what could have been a much higher score line against 50 Not Out.

In the Women’s competition, Tekeisha Deleon seemed to be everywhere on the court as the inspirational team leader and captain led from the front by scoring two of her teams three goals to pull off a 3-0 win over Misfits.

National striker Nicole Eastman managed the third to see Saints to a comfortable victory.

The Men’s Second Division saw more success for Saints as their Saints Sensations outclassed the newcomers GCC War Dogs 5-0. Sean Sookhai and Naresh Mahadeo each scored doubles to lead the scoresheet for the match.

GCC had a tough night in the second division as the Hikers Cadets came from behind to edge the GCC Pitbulls 2-1 in their Second Division clash.

Full results are as follows:

Male First Division

Pepsi Hikers defeats 50 Not Out 10-3

Goals:

Pepsi Hikers (10) – Aroydy Branford 4, Robert France 2, Jamarj Assanah 1, Orlando Machado 1, Randy Hope 1, Shane Samuels 1

50 Not Out (3) – Philip Fernandes 2, Orson Ferguson 1

Guyana 40s defeated YMCA Old Fort 3-0

Goals:

Guyana 40s (3) – Chris Low-Koan 1, Devin Munroe 1, Dwayne Scott 1

Bounty GCC defeated Saints 3-1

Goals:

Bounty GCC – Kevin Spencer (3)

Saints – Hilmar Chester 1

FEMALE Division

Saints defeated MisFits 3-0

Goals:

Saints (3) – Tekeisha Deleon 2, Nicole Eastman 1

MALE Second Division

Saints Sensations defeated GCC War Dogs by 5-0

Goals:

Saints Sensations (5) – Sean Sookhai 2, Naresh Mahadeo 2, Jabari Lovell 1

Hikers Cadets defeated GCC Pitbulls 2-1

Goals:

Hikers Cadets (2) – Orlando Machado 1, Edmund Chinian 1

GCC Pitbulls (1) – Samuel Woodroffe 1

Games continue all week in the evenings from 17:00h and conclude on the weekend, beginning at 15:00h on those days.