By Kate Allman
Here comes the Chill.
After a bye in week one of the Sultana Bran Hockey One League 2022 Season, Canberra Chill will run out for the first time on Thursday night against Brisbane Blaze at the Queensland State Hockey Centre.
Tickets are available through Ticketek.
Catch all the action LIVE on Kayo and FOX Sports.
Fans have been itching to get a first look at the Chill teams, which pack plenty of punches into their 20-player squads.
The women’s team includes the Most Valuable Player from Season 1, Shihori Oikawa. The defender is a Japanese national representative with Olympic, Commonwealth Games and World Cup experience.
Adding international flavour to the team are two New Zealand Black Sticks – sisters Katie and Madison Doar – who have each played for New Zealand with Madison earning a gold medal for her part in the 2018 Commonwealth Games team.
Meanwhile, the men’s Chill team boasts Kookaburras veteran goalkeeper Andrew Charter, who famously held opposition teams to just three goals throughout the entire tournament during Australia’s 2014 World Cup win.
Dual World Cup winner and Olympian Glenn Turner adds his wealth of experience to the team, which will prove invaluable if he hopes to guide young guns like Jay McDonald and Anand Gupte to victory against the Kookaburra-stacked Blaze.
Freezing out the Brisbane Blaze at their home base will be a tough ask as the Blaze has plenty to be fired up about after Round 1.
Friday’s shock loss by the women against the Tassie Tigers means the Blaze women are hungry for redemption. Hockeyroos strikers Rosie Malone and Savannah Fitzpatrick will be lurking at the goal mouth with venom after each putting points up last week but being unable to convert their field goals.
Meanwhile, the men will be energised by their dominant first-round performance under captain Tim Howard. Drag flicker and Kookaburra Joel Rintala put the league’s defensive batteries on notice by putting away two penalty corners against the Tassie Tigers.
Cale Cramer will hope to continue his stunning comeback from retirement after also scoring a brace in round one.
When these two teams met during the regular season in 2019, honours were split. The Chill women beat Blaze in a tense shootout 2(2) – 2(3), with the Blaze men cashing in after a 4-1 victory.
Brisbane Blaze v Canberra Chill
Thursday 6 October 2022
Queensland State Hockey Centre
Match Start: Women’s 5:30pm local (6:30pm AEDT), Men’s 7:00pm local (8:00pm AEDT)
Broadcast: LIVE and exclusive on Kayo and FOX Sports #CCHvBBZ #HockeyOne
Umpires: Tara Leonard & Aleisha Neumann (women’s), Steve Rogers & Aaron Gotting (men’s)
Brisbane Blaze Women’s team: 1.Savannah Fitzpatrick, 2.Ambrosia Malone, 3.Casey Dolkens, 5.Dayle Dolkens, 6.Morgan Gallagher (c), 7.Hannah Cullum-Sanders, 8.Jade Smith, 12.Tatum Stewart, 13.Rebecca Greiner, 19.Morgan Mathison, 22.Britt Wilkinson, 24.Claire Colwill, 25.Kyra Livermore, 30.Georgina West, 32.Emily Witheyman-Crump (gk)
In: 5.Dayle Dolkens, 25.Kyra Livermore
Out: 4.Ashley Fey (injured), 23.Ruby Harris
Canberra Chill Women’s Team: 1.Mikayla Evans, 4.Madison Doar, 6.Katie Doar, 7.Naomi Evans, 8.Laura Gray, 11.Sophie Gaughan, 14.Emily Robson, 16.Shihori Oikawa, 17.Isabelle Lovel, 18.Olivia Martin, 21.Mikaela Patterson, 23.Kalindi Commerford, 24.Sarah White, 28.Catriona Bailey-Price, 32.Rene Hunter (gk)
Brisbane Blaze Men’s team: 2.Shane Kenny, 3.Corey Weyer, 5.Lucas Brown, 7.Joel Rintala, 9.Jacob Anderson, 10.Jayden Atkinson, 11.Michael Francis, 12.Jake Whetton, 13.Ethan White, 14.Isaac Layton, 15.Cale Cramer, 16.Tim Howard (c), 17.Scott Boyde, 27.Jared Taylor, 32.Mitchell Nicholson (gk)
In: 12.Jake Whetton
Out: 4.Hugh Pembroke (injured)