THE future of hockey in the Hastings appears to be bright after the under-15 boys’ side won their division at the state championships in Tamworth.
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Port Macquarie, with players selected from five different clubs, headed over the mountain believing they were a good chance of success.
They defeated Bathurst 3-1 on penalty strokes after both sides were locked at 1-all at full-time. After two six-minute halves of drop-offs both sides still couldn’t be separated.
Then Ben Harris and Ryan Payne put their penalty shots away to hand the side the title.
Coach Col Pursehouse said the team won four out of their five games before the finals with the only glitch a 1-all draw in the first game.
They then kept their opponents scoreless with successive 1-0 and 4-0 wins heading into the final.
“Ben was voted as our best player of the tournament and Ryan scored a fair few of our goals as well,” Pursehouse said.
Connor Dewbery and Joel McManus shared the goalkeeping duties with high levels of success although Pursehouse said there wasn’t a bad player.
“Every kid deserves a mention, but the other notable performances were from Harry Yardley and Blair McLaughlin,” Pursehouse said.
Association president Simon Thresher said the success of the team was “just desserts”.
“It’s the reputation we’ve built over the years where we’ve put a bit of effort in to build the club up,” he said.
“We’re seeing the benefits now.”
Thresher said the under 15 side would progress into the under 18 division in coming years and while he admitted it would be a steep learning curve, it was necessary.
“We want to provide that pathway for our younger players at the club and get a continuum happening where they continue to move through the ranks,” he said.
“It’s going to be tough for them, but hopefully in two or three years’ time they can do the same thing at an under-18 level.”
Capping off a successful weekend for the club, Port was awarded with the ‘play the whistle’ award as the best-behaved club both on and off the field.
The under-15 girls will head to Taree for their state titles in a couple of weeks.