The 2016 Diamond Mineral Water Indoor Hockey Festival was another huge success for Guyana as the tournament once attracted teams from the Caribbean and North America for one of its most exciting competitions ever.
The festival comprises of three divisions being men, women and over-35 (vets). The men’s competition featured the three leading teams from Guyana, Pepsi Hikers, Old Fort and Bounty GCC along with a juniuor national squad side in Avengers. These were joined by the Toronto Lions of Canada, the Bal-Wash-ers of the USA (players from the Baltimore & Washington area) as well as Queens Park and Carib HC from Trinidad. The women’s division was contested between three Guyanese teams, Pizza Hut GCC, Old Fort and the Woodpecker Hikers plus the Toronto Torros of Canada. The veterans division saw the visiting contingent of Bal-Wash-ers, Queens Park, Malvern HC and Carib HC compete against local sides the Hickers, Vintage and Old Old Fort.
Following their 5-5 pool round clash, which many considered to have been the match of the tournament thus far, Guyana’s Pepsi Hikers and Queens Park of Trinidad & Tobago squared off in a tense men’s division final.
The umpires might well have used starter’s guns instead of whistles to begin the match, as both teams began the game in all-out attacking mode with players moving at top speed from end to end seeking the upper hand. Just four minutes into the match, powerful Hikers striker Randy Hope received a ball on the right of the scoring circle and dispatched his shot cleanly into the Queens Park net past diving goalkeeper Reiza Hussein.
As the high-paced game saw the teams trading goals throughout the match, the Hikers would enjoy the lead up until five minutes from full time when Queens Park and Trinidadian national striker, Akim Toussant , drew the score level at 6-6 with a fine finish off a counterattack. Fittingly it was the veteran Devin Munroe who was instrumental in all six previous festival wins for the Hikers, to close out Queens Park and the match with a terrific shot from the right. With just four minutes remaining, Queens Park launched several futile attacks and the final whistle saw the Pepsi Hikers earn their record seventh men’s title.
The ladies final, though entertaining, did not prove to be quite as competitive as the men’s with the Toronto Toros crushing the Woodpecker Hikers by 5-1. After an opening penalty corner goal in the second minute of play, competition MVP and Highest Goal Scorer, Toro right back Kaelan Watson punctuated her performance with the final goal of the match in similar fashion 35 minutes later. Teammate Danica Jayme managed a hatrick of goals for the Toros to complete their five goals while Hikers guest player Allana Lewis managed their lone goal through a penalty corner early in the second half of the match.
The veterans final between Queens Park and the Bal-Wash-ers was another one to go the distance with the final score of regulation time was dead even at 4-4. After all six attempts were saved in the resulting first round of a penalty shootout, fervid Bal-wash-er Inderjeet Bath and teammate Jesse Larson would pull off the win by both scoring in the sudden death round of the shootout.
Individual and team awards were then presented by representatives from Demerara Distillers Ltd and Ansa McAl as follows:
Vets
Best Goalkeeper – Gregory Garroway (Bal-wash-ers)
Most goals – Rafael Gouveia (Queens Park)
MVP – Jerazeno Bell (Queens Park)
Winners – Bal-wash-ers
Runners-up - Queens Park
Women
Best Goalkeeper – Latoya Fordyce (Woodpecker Hikers)
Most goals – Kaelan Watson (Toronto Toros)
MVP – Kaelan Watson (Toronto Toros)
Winners – Toronto Toros
Runners-up - Woodpecker Hikers
Men
Best Goalkeeper – Jason Hoyte (Pepsi Hikers)
Most goals – Jordan Vieira (Queens Park)
MVP – Aroydy Branford (Pepsi Hikers)
Winners – Pepsi Hikers
Runners-up - Queens Park
