NSW Pride, Brisbane Blaze and HC Melbourne all took out their first wins in Round 1 of the Sultana Bran Hockey One League, Australia’s new reimagined national hockey league.
There were 28 goals scored across the six (three women’s and three men’s) matches as Sydney, Canberra and Perth hosted the first round of double headers.
In a match where all the scoring came within the space of five minutes, goals from Ehren Hazell and Blake Govers was enough for the NSW Pride to scrape past Adelaide Fire.
Canberra Chill put up a brave fight against the highly fancied Brisbane Blaze with scores level 1-1 at half time with goals from the Blaze’s Joel Rintala and Chill captain Aaron Kershaw.
But a third quarter double from Justin Douglas and another from Jacob Anderson ensured the Queenslanders kicked off their campaign with a win.
The round concluded with a nine-goal thriller between the Perth Thundersticks and HC Melbourne at the Perth Hockey Stadium.
A Tom Wickham double for the Perth Thundersticks was replicated less than 60 seconds later at the other end by HC Melbourne striker Nathan Ephraums to make it 2-2 inside the opening 10 minutes.
HC Melbourne captain Russell Ford pounced to make it 4-2 after he converted his one-on-one with the keeper after finding the back of the net but Trent Mitton was not going to be outdone as he responded with his own double in the 20th minute to tie the scores at 4-4 at the main interval.
The match would be decided in the 32nd minute when Ford fired in a reverse stick to complete his hat-trick and give HC Melbourne a confidence boosting win on the road ahead of their opening home game this Sunday.
Every match of the Sultana Bran Hockey One League 2019 Season is LIVE and exclusive on Kayo. Tickets for all matches are available through Ticketek.
Men’s Competition
NSW Pride 2 (Hazell 42’, Govers 45+’)
Adelaide Fire 1 (Busiko 47’)
Sunday 29 September 2019
Sydney Olympic Park Hockey Centre (NSW) NSW Pride Men’s team: 2.Tom Craig, 5.Ash Thomas (GK), 6.Matthew Dawson, 8.Nathanael Stewart, 11.Hayden Dillon, 12.Kurt Lovett, 13.Blake Govers, 18.Tristan White (c), 19.Jack Hayes, 22.Flynn Ogilvie, 23.Ryan Proctor, 24.Dylan Martin, 26.Ehren Hazell, 29.Tim Brand
Adelaide Fire Men’s team: 3.Lachlan Busiko, 6.Angus Fry, 7.Scott Germein, 9.Fred Gray, 11.Cameron Joyce, 13.Luke Larwood, 15.Andy Leat, 18.Al Oliver, 19.Glyn Tamlin (c), 23.Cameron White, 24.Hirotaka Zandana, 25.Kota Watanabe, 26.Liam Alexander, 29.Eddie Chittleborough (GK)
Canberra Chill 1 (Kershaw 21’)
Brisbane Blaze 4 (Rintala 20’, Douglas 41’/41’, Anderson 52’)
Sunday 29 September 2019
National Hockey Centre (ACT)
Canberra Chill Men’s team: 1.Aaron Knight, 2.Ben Staines, 3.Anand Gupte, 4.James Day, 5.Lewis Shepherd, 7.Kazuma Murata, 8.Daniel Conroy, 10.Owen Chivers, 11.Garry Backhus, 12.Jake Staines, 13.Manabu Yamashita, 17.Aaron Kershaw (c), 22.Jay MacDonald, 30.Andrew Charter (GK)
Brisbane Blaze Men’s team: 2.Shane Kenny, 3.Corey Weyer, 4.Hugh Pembroke, 5.Scott Boyde, 7.Joel Rintala, 9.Jacob Anderson, 10.Robert Bell, 12.Jake Whetton, 14.Luke Tyne, 15.Justin Douglas, 16.Tim Howard, 20.Matthew Swann (c), 26.Dylan Wotherspoon, 32.Mitchell Nicholson (GK)
Perth Thundersticks 4 (Wickham 7’/7’, Mitton 20/20’)
HC Melbourne 5 (Ephraums 7’/8’, Ford 11’/12’/32’)
Sunday 29 September 2019
Perth Hockey Stadium at Curtin University (WA)
Perth Thundersticks Men’s team: 1.Brayden King, 3.Tim Geers, 4.Jake Harvie, 5.Frazer Gerrard, 6.James Collins, 7.Tyler Lovell (GK), 8.Coby Green, 9.Dave Gavranich, 10.Tom Wickham, 14.Liam Flynn, 15.Will Byas, 17.Aran Zalewski (c), 25.Trent Mitton, 27.Marshall Roberts
HC Melbourne Men’s team: 2.Max Hendry, 3.Simon Borger, 5.Andrew Philpott, 8.Josh Pollard, 9.Nathan Ephraums, 10.Russell Ford (c), 13.Jayshaan Randhawa, 14.Jonathan Bretherton, 15.Josh Simmonds, 17.Kiran Arunasalam, 18.Johan Durst (GK), 21.Jake Sherren, 23.Joel Carroll, 25.Aaron Kleinschmidt