2018 WA Masters Hockey Men's O45 State Team

Please keep an eye out - this is one of Alex’s friends sister 💔

Western Australia Police Force would like to thank the public for their assistance, the 11-year-old girl has been located.

Legendary team

Thanks to all the support crew, wives and kids who helped make this happen!

Team dinner and wind up. Congrats to Bundy for winning best & fairest, to Onions for winning the inaugural best role player award and Cakey for highest goalscorer!

***GAME 7 MATCH REPORT (Bronze Medal Match WA vs QLD)***

SWEET VICTORY!

Well the last game of a truly enjoyable tournament was upon us and the boys had just one more hill to climb. After the disappointment of not making the Gold Medal match WA were determined to enjoy our last game as a playing group together and to go out on a high. Unlike yesterday the weather was overcast and cool but after a well rehearsed warm up routine the boys were pumped and ready to go in what would be a replay of last years Gold Medal match against Queensland. 😠

The game started with WA immediately taking control of the game and showing their superiority across the pitch. Apart from the usual early WA chances the scorers weren’t troubled and the quarter ended how it started...goal less. 🙂

WA continured to play good hockey and were rewarded 7 minutes after the restart with a PC. Another solid injection by Chaddy and stop by Paulie left Bundy to make a low drag bottom right unto a QLD foot on the line and WA earned its first stroke of the tournament. Bundy stepped up to the line and slotted a low flick to the right past the keeper and WA were 1-0 up. Just before the half WA earned a string of PCs however were unable to convert. 😀

The second half started in the same fashion again with WA holding most of the possession. QLD were struggling to outlet the ball but their attempts to overload the right hand side were effectively shut down by the WA defence who gave very them very little room. 😃

We knew that QLD were going to come all out after us in the fourth quarter however their attempts were again ably shut down by the WA defence...most notably when Spanky took one for the team in his wrist running out to defend a QLD corner. WA finally put the Queenslanders out of their misery three minutes from time with some magical stickwork from Ray in the QLD circle, set up WAs leading goalscorer Cakey to lift the ball over a grounded QLD keeper. The game ended with WA earning a 2-0 victory and the bronze medal. 😁🥉

With the tournament now done for us and just the traditional team dinner and wind up to look forward to...it has been another truly enjoyable experience for everyone. In the end the enjoyment comes not from the result itself but from being able to play good hockey with a fantastic group of guys. Congratulations to everyone on the team and many thanks to all our families and supporters both here with us and back home. Way to go WA!

WA 2-0 QLD
Goalscorers: Bundy, Cakey

Final Standings Over 45 Div 1
TAS - Gold
NSW - Silver
WA - B***e
QLD - 4th
VIC - 5th
WAC - 6th

Won Bronze Medal 🥉

Western Australia have just won the 45s Bronze Medal, congrats guys

***GAME 6 MATCH REPORT (Semis WA vs TAS)***

HEARTBREAKING

The rest day was a welcome reprieve from the physical demands of the tournament, and the time was well spent doing some quality team bonding which included some modest amounts of food and alcohol. We also managed to slip in a team meeting somewhere in between where we discussed areas where we could improve in our game play. No Goals suffered a rolled ankle in our last game and unfortunately could not play today, but nevertheless after the drubbing against NSW the boys were keen for some redemption against TAS who were lucky to just scrape a win against us in the pool match. WA had to win in order to progress to the goal medal match as TAS finished the pool stages in 2nd place, one above us. The weather in Lismore was predicted to be stormy however it turned out to be a very hot and sticky morning instead. 😎

The game started fairly evenly with both teams trying to move the ball around. WA started to take control in the latter parts of the quarter with a number of forays into the Tassie circle and a few attempts at goal by Paulie, Ray and Scotty however the quarter ended scoreless. 😑

In the second period WA again had several close encounters with Spanky hitting the Tassie upright with a low tomma from the top of the circle and Corbs again hitting the post from a flick. However (yet again) it was against the run of play when Tassie quickly countered from a WA turnover to run the ball into the circle, and despite Timber’s fine 1v1 clearance with his stick, the resulting fracas ended with the ball on the end of a Tassie stick and into the WA goal. Despite the early setback the boys hit back immediately with a magnificent Scotty solo effort down the inside left that saw him confront and beat the Tassie keeper 1v1 with a cool finish. The judges are still out on which was the more impressive...his individual goal...or his ‘Ronaldo-esk’ celebration dance in front of a wild WA cheering section!!! WA were riding a high at that moment and went ahead three minutes later with another fantastic solo run down the left hand side this time by Fox who beat at least two defenders in the Tassie circle to pass the ball in front of goal for a relatively straightforward Dawsy tap in finish. WA 2-1 TAS 😃

WA went into the third quarter full of confidence as the boys continued where we left off playing some good hockey and having the better of the exchanges. The game however turned on its head when the umpire controversially awarded a stroke to Tassie 10 minutes into the quarter for what seemed to be an innocuous tackle by Macca on a Tassie striker!?? They converted and WA was now staring down the barrel of the proverbial gun needing to score again in order to advance...a very challenging task given the mood of the umpires. The third quarter ended WA 2-2 TAS😡

The fourth quarter was fought valiantly by all the boys in very tough conditions as one of the umpires again controversially put his stamp on the game by giving out green cards to Scotty and Ray (for who knows what!!??) in the dying minutes of the game when WA were in all out attack mode. In a last ditch attempt WA pulled Timber in the dying minutes in favor of an extra attacker, however it was not to be as the seconds painfully ticked quickly down to zero. 🤬🤬🤬

As painful as the result was the boys could walk away knowing that we played some awesome hockey and was very unlucky to not have gotten a better result. As they say you win some and you lose some but always better to do so together as a team. So now we play QLD for the bronze medal...bring it on! 👍

WA 2-2 TAS
TAS advance to Gold medal match

Semifinal showdown
O45 WA v TAS
11:15 local

The traditional team dinner night kindly hosted by room 8!