Club hockey finally returns

With COVID-19 safety protocols in place, the Barbados Hockey Federation (BHF) touched off their first official club’s tournament for 2020 yesterday.

The local tournament will see 14 teams participating across three tournament-styled competitions in Men’s, Women’s and Masters categories. This is the first opportunity for local clubs to get back on the field as clubs. While the 35th Barbados International Hockey Festival was successfully staged in August, in recent times local clubs tend not to enter, as most players typically represent other adhoc Festival teams.

The ladies had the honour of touching off the first clubs match of the year, as CSOS lined-up against UWI Blackbirds. Playing just short of a full team, the CSOS ladies took early advantage of their tempo and a slow start by the Blackbirds, to go up 1- 0 after a speedy break by national forward Keisha Boyce in the 5th minute. As the match progressed, the Blackbirds exploited their numbers advantage and were clearly wearing down the CSOS team while creating chances of their own.

As the match wore on, CSOS found themselves down to eight players due to injury, and constantly under pressure by a relentless UWI attack. UWI would get the breakthrough in the 49th minute, when Josanne Thomas converted one such attack to level the scores with just 11 minutes remaining. CSOS though were able to see out the time for both teams to take away one well-deserved point each.

In the first masters match of the day, CSOS featured again. This time it was the Waterford masters facing the masters from All Stars Sports & Social. While uneventful, the first quarter saw CSOS with the lion’s share of chances, with forwards Peter Harris and Andre Walcott testing All Stars’ custodian Andre ‘Baa’ Boyce. Two minutes into the second quarter, CSOS broke the deadlock when specialist penalty corner-taker Donovan Smith netted a mid-height drag flick beyond the reach of Boyce and the Stars’ defence, giving CSOS a 1 – 0 lead. On the edge of halftime, CSOS extended their lead by one, when opportunistic forward Kofi Hinds, in his debut masters match, pounced on a blunder by the Stars’ defence and neatly slipped one past Boyce in the 24th. In the second half of the match, All Stars created numerous chances of their own but failed to convert, largely due to the outstanding efforts of CSOS custodian Dr. Kristina Hinds and the CSOS defence. At the end of regulation time, it would be CSOS 2, All Stars 0.

The final match of the day entertained the physically distanced spectators with seven goals in total. After an almost three-year hiatus, Maple Club stepped back on the Wildey Hockey Turf to contest YMCA for three masters points. With both sides opting to play without a goalkeeper, the Trents masters, showing that they didn’t lose a step, opened the scoring through veteran  Venslough Leacock in the 22nd with a penalty corner goal from the outstanding forward. Just two minutes later, a searching ball from the Maple defence found Ian Butcher, who also made no mistake with the opportunity to give Maple the 2 – 0 lead at the half. Shortly after the restart, the ‘Y’ pulled one back when deep striker Colton Slocombe caught the Maple defence napping and scored in the 27th minute. Leacock continued to marshall the Trents side however, and restored Maple’s two-goal cushion by scoring just seconds before the end of the 3rd quarter in the 36th minute.

In the action-packed last quarter, Maple increased their lead when former national defender Tryone Walkes put one home in the 39th to see the score go to 4 – 1 in Maple’s favour. The ‘Y’ was by no means down and out, and they continued to press and work the ball forward. Their efforts were rewarded in the 42nd, with a penalty corner being upgraded to a penalty stroke, which Slocombe effortlessly put away as Maple opted not to defend owing to not having a kitted goalkeeper.  Immediately after the restart, another successful press by YMCA, saw defender  Timothy Parris ending a drive with a goal in the 43rd and setting the score at Maple 4 – YMCA 3 with just 5 minutes remaining. With both sides pressing for the advantage in midfield, it would be Maple club who were able to secure a penalty corner in the last minute, which meant their lead was secured and they had done enough to take the three points and the end the game at Maple 4, YMCA 3.

The tournament is expected to last for about six weeks and in the absence of the BOA’s Independence Games, will likely be the final Hockey tournament for the year. Play continues on Saturday, October 3, 2020 at 1 p.m. at the Wildey Hockey Turf, with the touch-off of the Men’s competition.
(KH)