Hikers edged the Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC) 3-2 in their Men’s first divisional matchup when the Guyana Hockey Board (GHB)/Guyana Telephone and Telegraph (GT&T) National Indoor Hockey Championships opened at the National Gymnasium on Monday.
Robert France opened the scoring for Hikers in the second minute, powering home his right sided strike down the center of the goal after intercepting a pass from Steven Xavier in the final third.
France would double his side’s lead 10 minutes later with left sided strike from just inside the shooting arc.
The Bourda based side would cut the deficit to one in the shape of Kevin Spencer as he found the back of the net in the 18th minute with a strike to the left side of the goal.
Upon the resumption of the second period, Hikers would restore their two goal advantage in the 24th minute compliments of a powerful flat finish from Randy Hope on the left side of the arc after receiving a pass from France.
Orlan Semple brought GCC within one as he etched his name on the scorer’s sheet in the 34th minute, lashing home his effort to the bottom left corner from the right side of the shooting arc.
Setting up perfectly for a tense finish, Hikers custodian Jason Hoyte would deny Spencer’s right sided strike in the 37th minute with a sliding tackle as GCC began to push forward in search of the equalizing goal.
Semple almost found the equaliser for the Bourda unit in the 39th minute, only for his effort to sail narrowly wide of the left post after striking the shot from the center of the target area.
In the female division, Hikers Divas edged GCC Spartans 2-1 through goals from Amanda Garnett and Avonda James in the ninth and 10th minutes respectively. On target for the Bourda side in the second minute was Gabriella Xavier via the penalty spot.
In the second female fixture, Hikers Revelations thumped relative newcomers Old Fort Heats 9-0. Hat tricks by Tekeisha DeLeon in the ninth, 10th and 33rd minutes and Latacia Chung in the seventh, 31st and 32nd minutes led the assault.
Completing the score line was Charlyn Elliot with a double in the fourth and 24th minutes and Nicole Eastman in the 26th minutes. Hikers continued their dominant showing throughout the event, crushing GCC 8-3 in their second division fixture.
Aroydy Branford led the winners with a hat trick in the 13th, 26th and 28th minutes while Trayon Younge, Leon Bacchus, Jamarj Assanah, Reginald Harper and Michael Harding netted in the fifth, 11th, 17th, 24th and 30th minutes respectively.
On target in a losing cause were Eric Hing, Kareem McKenzie and S. Xavier in the 15th, 22nd and 23rd minutes correspondingly.
Continuing in the second division, Old Fort led by braces from Timothy Baker in the 21st and 27th minutes and Shaquille Thomas in the 17th and 28th minutes mauled Saints 5-1.
Richard Thomas netted a 29th minute effort in the victory. Scoring for the losers in the 20th minute was Paramanand Dindial.
In the opening fixture of the event, Hikers edged Old Fort 5-3 compliments of a Devin Munroe hat trick in the fourth, seventh and 20th minutes. He was assisted by Sheldon Corlette and Brian Asregado in the 13th and 22nd minutes respectively.
Netting for the losers were Dwayne Alleyne, Ian Nicholson and Dexter Wyles in the eighth, ninth and 19th minutes respectively.
Action continues on today at the same venue with six matchups. The feature first division matchups will see Hikers taking on Cadets at 19:30hrs and Old Fort tackling the old enemy GCC at 20:20hrs.
In the ladies division, Hikers Divas will oppose Old Fort Heats at 17:30hrs while Hikers Revelations will face off with GCC Tigers at 18:10hrs.
The veteran’s division will see Hikers locking horns with Old Fort 18:50hrs while Hikers and GCC will complete the evening’s matches when they do battle at 21:10hrs.
