Americas

Garfield London

STAG Malvern and Carib Magnolia retained their 2004 American-style seven-a-side knockout titles with wins over Defence Force and Malvern in the men's and women's divisions, respectively, as the 2005 Toyota Trinidad and Tobago Hockey Board (T&THB) season got going last weekend at the National Hockey Centre (NHC) in Tacarigua.

In the men's final, Defence Force played second fiddle to Malvern for the second year in row when they went under 5-3 on penalty flicks to the boys in the white and maroon strip, after the teams had battled to an entertaining goalless draw at the conclusion of regulation time.

The handful of spectators who stayed on to the very end were not disappointed as they were presented with a very high standard of play by way of end-to-end action courtesy of the two powerhouse men's clubs in T&T hockey.

Both the Army and Malvern missed several golden opportunities to seal victory in normal time as neither made full use of their chances.

In the penalty flick shoot-out, Malvern-who advanced to the final with a 2-1 success over Fatima-were perfect from the spot, while Defence Force-who registered a 2-1 triumph over Queen Park Club Cricket (QPCC) on penalty corners in the semi-final-missed their second attempt taken by veteran player Anton Reyes.

In women's action, Malvern had to settle for the sliver medals as they were beaten 2-0 by 2004 champions Magnolia in a keenly-contested affair, the penultimate game of the T&THB's opening day knockout fixtures.

Nicole Bradshaw and Gail-Ann Govia were the goalscores for the Magnolia ladies-who got past Defence Force 3-0 on penalty corners to advance to the final after a 0-0 draw in regulation time in their semi.

Malvern also reached the final, with a 3-1 victory, on penalty corners over Ventures, following a 1-1 deadlock after 30 minutes of action.

Despite their losses, the Army-Coast Guard combination were still able to march away with the double in the Most Valuable Player (MVP) awards.

National players Nicole Aming (women) and Kurt Noreiga (men) did the trick for the Defence Force.

Speaking at the end of the opening day tournament, T&THB president Maureen Rousseau expressed her happiness with the level of camaraderie and competitiveness exhibited by all the teams during the day's activities and she asked them to maintain such a showing for the rest of the 2005 season.

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