Rachel Clark, Nhill Free Press & Kaniva Times
Round 12 of WHA hockey saw NDSC – Hockey Division play at Kaniva on a beautiful, sunny 14 degree day, albeit a little warm for players! Nhill played against all Horsham teams, winning two matches, drawing one and losing one.
Bandits
The Under 12 Development Program team Bandits played with 12 players against the Black Hawks.
Team this week consisted of Jody, Daniel B, Stella, Madalyn, Atreyu, Nile, Declan, Eleanor, Riley, Hugo, Emily and Daniel H.
This was a good competitive game with no score for either team by half time.
Horsham was able to score two goals in the second half.
Well done, playing under a warm sun, which is a direct contract to last week’s wet and cold conditions.
Final score: Bandits 0 lost to Horsham Black Hawks 2.
Goal scorers: NA.
Tiger Cash (Detpa Grove): Hugo.
Horsham Lanes and Games voucher: Daniel B.
Thanks to Nathan Wheeler for taking the lead coaching this week while Lee was playing for Rangers on the other field at that time.
Leopards
Leopards had a slow start on the still slightly dewy grass on the top field at Kaniva at 11am, being the first game on that field that day. No score Q1 with Horsham defending well.
Q2 a few minutes in and Deegan broke the barrier with a field goal. Oliver scored a field goal with not long to go in the quarter.
Half time score: 2-0 up.
Q3 with five minutes to go Barrett scored a field goal.
Q4 and only a minute or so in and Barrett scored another field goal. A few minutes later Oliver scored again, this time from a short corner. Leopards continued to attack and had another couple short corners but no more goals.
Pocket rocket Ben played a top game. Zalia is improving still every week and is a great runner, even branching out to playing some half back this week in Amelia’s absence and she did a good job. Jack was getting into position well and did his job, getting close to scoring a goal.
Final score: Leopards 5 def Horsham Bombers 0.
Goal scorers: Oliver 2, Barrett 2, Deegan 1.
Umpire votes: Deegan 3, Ben 2, Zalia 1.
Tiger Cash (Bond Transport): Jack.
Horsham Lanes and Games voucher: Oliver.
Shoutout to Ben for filling in for Warrack Women this week, and he earned two votes for them!
Thunderbirds
Thunderbirds played an even first quarter and were able to defend any fast breaks by Jets.
Susan, Kenni and Chyna on half backs covered lots of ground and pushed and hit the ball through to attack well.
Q2 saw Jess R given the task of marking Jets’ top player Hannah Werner and she did a fantastic job with her speed and long reach. Stacey got a green card, for not being five on a free hit, no biggy. Midway through the quarter Zali did a great run and pushed the ball between the goalie’s legs for her first goal this season, in either U16s or women’s! Well done, great persistence and effort.
Half time score: 1-0 up.
Q3 saw lots of up and back play.
Midway through Q4 Susan and Cally did great run together with Cally getting the goal! Susan was right there with her and as Cally said, if she didn’t get it, Susan would have! Great teamwork, girls!
We will surely miss Susan the next few weeks as she heads back to uni – we’ve been lucky to have her while on an 8-week mid-year uni break.
This win keeps Thunderbirds’ finals chances alive for another week.
Final score: Thunderbirds 2 def Horsham Jets 0.
Goal scorers: Zalia 1, Cally Shurdington 1.
Umpire votes: Kendra Clark 3, Chyna Kessler 2, Cally Shurdington 1.
Tiger Tea (Wise Farm Machinery): Saskia.
Tiger Cash (Brandt Bordertown): Stacey Keller.
Rangers
Rangers were missing big gun Jason but fortunately Hurricanes were also missing one of their best, Tom, so this looked like it could be a good competitive game.
Short corners each way and no score from any. Rangers came super close to scoring a couple of times, but just couldn’t quite get the ball over the line.
Half time score: 0-0.
Horsham were attacking with good passing which is hard to defend. Late in Q3 a stick clash saw the ball glance off just above Brett’s eyebrow, a cut which required glue. He’d been playing a great CHB as usual til that, and his departure left a hole in our defence. Rangers held Hurricanes out for the last two minutes that were played out of the quarter.
Q4 Rangers rallied and defended hard, with goalie Kayden and David and Lee at full back doing a stellar job. Fred, Craig, Jiah and Joseph all defended well and tried to push up. Rodney made some good position on right wing with Deegan working hard up forward. The girls Naomi, Cally and Rachel interchanged up forward to help the men run the game out without getting overrun by the Hurricanes especially late in the game. While Rangers were defending a lot toward the end, they had kept their composure after Brett’s injury, and were able to secure a couple more points for the season.
Overall, still a fun competitive game, although a tad warm under the midday sun!
Final score: Rangers 0 drew with Horsham Hurricanes 0.
Goal scorers: NA.
Umpire votes: David Reichelt 3, Brett Tischler 2, Craig Schultz 1, Deegan 1.
Nhill IGA voucher: Brett Tischler.
Tiger Cash (Merrett Freight): Lee Marra.
Olympics
Australian men’s team Kookaburras and women’s team Hockeyroos head into finals this week at Paris 2024 Olympics. Good luck!
Round 13
Nhill hockey’s next matches will be on Saturday 10 August 2024 at Nhill. Nhill will take on Warracknabeal teams. Leopards at 11am; Bandits at 12.30pm; Thunderbirds at 3.30pm; Rangers at 2pm.
This article appeared in the Nhill Free Press & Kaniva Times, 7 August 2024.
