Women: Canberra Chill 2 (3) defeat Brisbane Blaze 2 (2)
Men: Brisbane Blaze 4 defeat Canberra Chill 1
The sun was shining in Canberra for round one of the inaugural Hockey One season– and the Canberra Chill were ready to take on the Brisbane Blaze in front of a chilled out home crowd.
Game one saw the women battle it out and right from the start it was just as promised – hockey reimagined!
The Chill had some opportunities, however the heat from the Blaze defence was too strong and the first quarter ended scoreless. The second quarter saw some individual attacking brilliance from Chill star Brooke Peris matched only by Jodie Kenny’s strength at the back.
It wasn’t until late in the third quarter the Brisbane Blaze were able to break through with Rosie Malone scoring a fantastic field goal, and backing it up by converting her one-on-one opportunity.
The Chill were on the back foot at the start of the fourth quarter, the Blaze looked like they were going to hold strong until Beckie Middleton was able to break through and found Naomi Evans unmarked in the circle. Naomi scored, and converted her one-on- one equalising the game with seven minutes to go.
The last seven minutes flew by with both teams working hard to create opportunities for themselves. However it wasn’t to be, the game finished 2-2. It was time for a shootout.
Chill goalkeeper Sakiyo Asano dominated the shootout, and the Chill took the point winning 3-2.
In the Men’s match up the Blaze brought a plethora of international experience with six current Kookaburra’s in their line up. Canberra Chill goalkeeper Andrew Charter withstood the pressure and kept a clean sheet for the first quarter.
The second quarter showcased some of Australia’s best drag flickers, a goal to the Blaze’s Joel Rintala, only to be equaled by the Chill’s Aaron Kershaw a minute later.
The Blaze continued to turn up the heat during the third and fourth quarter with an epic field goal followed by a conversion to Justin Douglas in the third, and a penalty corner goal to Jacob Anderson in the fourth.
The Chill were unlucky not to equalize in the fourth quarter hitting the post twice. The Blaze took the win 4-1.
Round 2 sees the Chill host the Pride and the Blaze are off to Melbourne.
Women’s Match Details:
Canberra Chill 2 (3) (Evans 53’/53’)
Brisbane Blaze 2 (2) (Malone 43’/43’)
Canberra Chill win 3-2 on penalties
Men’s Match Details:
Canberra Chill 1 (Kershaw 21’)
Brisbane Blaze 4 (Rintala 20’, Douglas 41’/41’, Anderson 52’)