2018 WA Masters Hockey Men's O65 State Team

Some shots of our boys WA O65’s

Some shots of our boys WA 65’s

Match report by Dudley Evans
Game 8: WA vs VIC

Our final game of the tournament with a start time of 8:30am required a massive effort to first of all get there on time and then to get warmed up and ready to play. We started brightly and it was no surprise when Tommy Long forced a penalty stroke. Chappie strolled up, told Ron he wouldn’t be required and calmly and professionally flicked it into the goal high and wide on the goalies left.
The second quarter was more of the same with end to end hockey. A short corner to them with only a minute remaining resulted in their only goal. It was all on for both teams! It was exciting stuff but in the excitement we all forgot to put the ball in the goal and so the end result remained 1-1.
On to a one on one shootout in which the WA goalie was superb. Chappie and Maurie both put away their attempts and Tommy earned a penalty stroke. Unfortunately his stroke attempt was miraculously saved by the VIC goalie as the ball trickled towards him. Our goalie, Tony Freeman, managed to save 4 out of the 5 attempts by VIC and the bronze was ours.
The team had steadily improved during the tournament and had always given great effort! Every game had been fought right to the end for which all players were congratulated and some even turned their attention to next years tournament while most turned their attention to a beer and a well earned rest!!

Final game score WA 1 VIC 1
Shootout score WA 2 VIC 1
Goal scorers Chappie 2, Maurie 1
Cards Yellow Maurie, green Ron
Penalty corners WA 4 VIC 5

Match report by Dudley Evans
Game 7: WA vs QLD

This was an even more, more even game if you know what I mean! Only 3 short corners each and few chances to score for each team. With the best of the chances coming WA’s way after only 7 minutes the WA player thinking he was playing rugby smashed the ball just over the cross bar! “Good save” said the Queenslanders to their goalie but there was quite a bit of doubt from those watching as to whether he had actually seen it!

The rest of the match was the same as the first with highlights, lowlights but no goals!
With the result 0-0 it meant another game tomorrow with a chance for a bronze medal.

Final score WA 0 QLD 0
Cards Nil
PC’s WA 3 QLD 3

Match report by Dudley Evans
Game 6: WA vs QLD

A win would see us top of the ladder where we belong and the advantage that brings going into the semifinals but that was only in our dreams! We started well but couldn’t put the ball into the net. This was a dour struggle with only 4 short corners for them, 3 for us and only a few opportunities to score for each side. Unfortunately it was Queensland who put away one of their few chances when a breakaway down the left wing caught WA short of defenders and our goalie with no chance!

As it turned out the 1-0 loss wasn’t all that bad as it meant we ended up 4th and the privilege of playing them again in the semi’s. Postgame we came up with a range of plans for the rematch and some very tough selection issues!

Final score WA 0 QLD
Cards Green Dud
PC’s WA

Best Players

WA v VICTORIA 1 All and then won Bronze on the one on one penalty shoot out. Congratulations to everyone on the team.

WA v QLD 1:0 down. Semi finals tomorrow against QLD.

Match report by Dudley Evans.
Game 5: WA vs WAC

Our third game in 3 days and a chance to maintain top spot on the ladder. Unfortunately WAC had other ideas and so the arm wrestle began and continued for the entire match. Despite the best efforts of both sides the deadlock could not be broken and the score ended up 0-0. The chance was lost and we were free falling into the black hole of imaginary numbers.

During the game we had clear opportunities to seal the deal but couldn’t put the little white ball into the big black goal! In particular during the final quarter we seemed to be constantly camped down their end of the field with shots on goal, penalty corners but no reward. After the game one experienced spectator commented that we had done everything except score and one inexperienced spectator commented that it was little wonder we always seemed to need a drink after the game!

We retired for refreshments at the hospitality tent then just to prove what good sports we all are we met the country boys at the RSL club in Ballina for a meal. We told them a few lies and listened to how good they were. They told us this meant that next years game would be bigger than Ben Hur. Somebody said that’s years away and you have to be selected first! I thought there was an element of truth in this!!

Final score WA 0 WAC 0
Goal scorers Nil
Cards Nil
Penalty corners WA 5 WAC 2

WA played their country cousins WAC and both played a hard game. Nil All. Both teams and partners enjoyed a dinner at Ballina RSL.