ATLASVILLE, SOUTH AFRICA – The weekend of the 8th to 10th of October 2010 saw the South African National Senior Ice Hockey Championships been held in Pretoria. The teams competing were Gauteng, Southern Gauteng, Western Province A (WP A) and Western Province B (WP B).
This was guaranteed to be hotly contested championships as the Western Province teams are both coached by South African National Team coach, Ronnie Woods.
The first game of the tournament took place on Friday morning with the two Western Province Teams facing each other. The WP B team was made up mostly of the youngsters from WP. A lot of the players had just taken part in the U18 SA championships.
The game started off at a quick pace but WP A quickly took control of the game as they have a more powerful and experienced team bolstered by long time SA player Marc Giot and the international contingent that they have. WP A also added strength in their roster thanks to the inclusion of Canadian National Inline Hockey Team player, Dave Hammond. It seemed to take Dave a little bit to get used to the ice in Johannesburg but once he did, he was the man to watch in the WP A team. With good hands, great shot and good head for the game he controlled a lot of the attacking options for WP A.
WP A were too strong for their B team and emerged 14-2 winners.
The evening game between Gauteng and Southern Gauteng promised to be an entertaining game. Both teams boast a good number of current and former national team players.
The game started of at a very quick pace wit both teams having early opportunities. Ashley Bock in goals for Gauteng and David Berger in goals for Southern Gauteng very stopping everything that came their way.
Mid way through the first period Gauteng got the breakthrough by David Pierce and opened the scoring. 1-0 was how the first period ended.
The second period started much the same as the first. This time, Southern Gauteng were looking for scoring opportunities and got caught out a few times on the break. Burton Matthews, a long time national team player, was welcomed back to the Gauteng team. Matthews knows for his great hands, strength and shot showed why he is a dominant force on Defence. Gauteng key player, Damian Cardoso cut in across the blue line and Matthews levelled him with a Scott Stevens style hit. This seemed to lift the spirits of the Gauteng bench and they put two quick ones in past Berger in the Southern Gauteng goals. 3-0. With 3 minutes remaining Gauteng hit again to make it 4-0 at the end of the second.
The third period started at a tenacious pace and once again Southern Gauteng was looking for opportunities. Mid was through the period they had a scoring chance which A. Bock seemed to have saved. With the puck under his pad the Southern Gauteng players jammed away at his leg. The goal judge disallowed the goal as he said the whistle had gone prior to the puck crossing the line but the Ref’s over ruled and awarded the goal to Southern Gauteng. 3-1 it was. This seemed to change the attitudes of the Gauteng players as they injected more pace into the game. The Southern Gauteng Defence seemed to be having problems containing David Pierce and Cameron Birrell.
Southern Gautengs’ right winger cut across the centre ice and as he received the pass, was levelled by Matthews. This had to be the hit of the tournament. From this hit, Birrell got the puck, slated in down the left wing and let a shot go. This beat Berger and made it 5-1 to Gauteng.
Gauteng were however not done yet and scored one more. Final score 6-1 to Gauteng.
The next morning saw Southern Gauteng taking on Western Province B. It was set to be an exciting game but Southern Gauteng used their size, speed and skill and were too powerful for the youngsters from the Cape. Southern Gauteng were glad to have their Captain and star defence man, David Watson back.
Watson suffered a freak accident 3 months ago and cut the tendons in his forearm. With a miraculous recovery over the last 3 months he has been able to get his hand working again and back into shape. He was inspirational in their win as they emerged 8-0 victors. Saturday night was to be the night the gold medal would be determined. As WP A and Gauteng had both won their first games and Gauteng were facing a WP B team the next morning, which had lost both their previous games.
The game was played in-front of a great crowd. The game got off to a frantic pace with neither team wanting to give up the first opportunity. The first line of Gauteng seemed to be all over the first line of WP A and their pressure paid off with a great scoring opportunity which was saved by the WP goaltender, Eric Rodenwoldt. This bought on the 2nd lines for each team. Gautengs’ second line was a complete SA National team line and this showed as they used their experience and skill to their advantage. Jack Valadas made a pass to the slot and the little sniper, Chris Engelbrecht made no mistake and put it past Rodenwoldt to open up the scoring.
The first goal was followed by a fantastic tip in from the second line once again. WP A took a penalty and this meant that the Power Play line of Engelbrecht, Valadas, Lyon, Marsh and Ashworth had their first opportunity. Unfortunately against a line of this calibre, they didn’t need two invitations to increase the lead. Ashworth set the puck up deep in the corner and passed it back to Marsh on the point. Marsh faked the slap shot at net and sent a hard pass to the back door when Engelbrecht was waiting. He managed to get his stick to it and tip it into the top corner of the WP teams net. 2-0.
Gauteng took an offensive Zone Penalty and this bought the face-off back to their end of the ice. With Gauteng down one man, Burton Matthews tried to make the dump around the boards from behind the net, as he did though, the ref stepped back against the boards, the puck struck him on his leg and deflected out into the front of the net where WP player Uthman Samaai was. The puck landed on his stick and he let a wrist go which sailed over the shoulder of G.Bock in the Gauteng goals to make it 2-1.
Gauteng however restored their 2 goal lead with a goal by David Pierce. 3-1.
WP once again got an opportunity in the Gauteng zone when they took a penalty. With 30 second left on the penalty, Dave Hammons, the Canadian National Inline Team player, skated out from behind the net, controlled the puck and let a shot go which went top corner over the glove of G.Bock. 3-2.
Once again Gauteng answered back and scored to make it 4-2. With 00:00 on the clock Gauteng seemed to have scored but the goal was disallowed as the time keeper said time had expired.
The second period was just as exciting. WP had their chances and on a great chance by Hammond, G.Bock stuck his glove up to rob him of this opportunity. G.Bock was not going to let 2 top shelf glove side goals go in against his. With another fantastic sprawling save G.Bock pulled off 2 saves, the first was on the attempted deke and the second was with his glove as he covered the rebound from his save. With WP A on the penalty kill, the Gauteng defence pinched the blue line and lost control of the puck. Hammond skated down on G.Bock unopposed and pulled a great deke. He slotted the puck and made it 4-3.
Gauteng answered back and made a goal by Cameron Birrel made it 5-3 to restore the 2 goal advantage.
Gauteng and WP A entered the break with Gauteng leading 5-3.
The second period was marred by cheap shots from the WP team which the refs didn’t seem to take control of.
With 35 seconds gone in the third period, the young 18 year old defence man from Gauteng, Jason Goncalves, went behind the net fetch the puck and clear the zone. As he did this and before he had an opportunity to turn around, the WP A Defence man, Brendan Stevens, steamed in from the blue line and nailed Goncalves from behind. The worst hit of the tournament. This seemed to really annoy G.Bock and the normally calm keeper lost his cool and attacked Stevens. He gave him one solid punch to the face, and although Stevens had a full cage on, it sent him crashing to the ground. Unfortunately G.Bock didn’t think about the consequences and this bought about him been ejected from the game and receiving a match misconduct penalty for intent to injure. This meant that his brother Ashley, who was on the bench now had about 30 seconds to warm up and get in the net.
WP seemed to take advantage of this and put two quick goals past A.Bock to make it 5-5. Ashley however made some huge saves to keep it at 5-5.
With 5 minutes left on the clock, Gauteng were pushing for the win. David Pierce scored a great goal which turned out to be the game winner.
Game ended 6-5 to Gauteng.
The last 2 games of the tournament to Gauteng take on WP B and WP A take on Southern Gauteng.
Gauteng went on a mission against WP B and ended up victorious by a score of 19-1. This meant they had not lost a game and were now to be crowned SA Champions 2010.
WP A were however not in for a easy game against a tenacious Southern Gauteng. Southern Gauteng came out firing and an early goal sent them into a frenzy. They managed to hold the WP A team for most of the period until they scored. Score after 1 was 1-1. This is not what the WP A team expected.
The second period started off much of the same with Southern Gauteng getting an early goal and going into the lead 2-1.
Dave Hammond and the Western Province A team would not sit back and Hammond scored two quick goals to make it 3-2. WP still had one more left in them before the end of the second and made it 4-2 at the end of 2.
Southern Gauteng are known for their third periods. They are synonymous for having either a very good third period and coming back at their opponents or having a poor third period and letting the game get away from them. On this day they had the latter and let WP put 6 goals past them in the third to end off with a score of 10-2.
So the standing at the end of three days of great hockey was:
1: Gauteng
2: Western Province A
3: Southern Gauteng
4 Wester Province B
The individual awards were as follows:
Best Goaltender: Eric Rodenwoldt – WP A
Best Defender: Ian Ashworth and Burton Matthews – both Gauteng
Best Forward: Cameron Birrell – Gauteng
Most Points: David Pierce – Gauteng
MVP: David Pierce – Gauteng
The South African Training Squad should be announced shortly so keep an eye for that one. With the world championships taking part in Cape Town, South Africa, the team put together will be an extremely strong one and all participants will be looking forward taking part in this tournament in their home country.
I got a hold of David Pierce, top points scorer and MVP of the National Championships and asked him a few questions.
PHN: So David, tell us a little about your hockey Career?
David Pierce: Well I moved from Georgia to Michigan when I was 8 years old and started playing then. I played for a local club up until I was about 15 years old. Then I played high school hockey for Powers Catholic High School. High school hockey is very popular in the states and I would have to say that’s where I developed most of my skill. Then I played junior hockey for the Michigan Mountain Mats and was the leading scorer in that league for the two years I was there.
PHN: What made you come to South Africa?
David Pierce: Cameron Birrell played on my junior team with me and he is from South Africa. He invited me to come visit with him. His Father, Lloyd thought it would be a great idea if they brought someone in to up the competition a bit.
PHN: How did the National Championships go for you?
David Pierce: Nationals went well. It was very entertaining and I think that all teams put on a good show. I was just very happy I could help my team win first place. I was also glad to have received the MVP and top points scorer awards in my first South African National Championships.
PHN: Were you impressed with the hockey played this weekend? What impressed you?
David Pierce: Of course, when you’re living in the states and you hear about hockey in South Africa, you really don’t think to highly about it. But I’ve been impressed ever since I first came here. The level is alot better then what I first assumed. What impressed me the most was just actually how skilled players are individually, and just the passion for the game.
PHN: How do you feel about the level of hockey in SA?
David Pierce: I feel that it isn’t that much behind other countries like the States, as many people may think. You can tell that the drive is there, and the players really want to be better everyday. The only difference to me between the States and South Africa is that hockey is alot easier to come by. Thus making it easier to have a greater number of players with great skill.
PHN: Would you recommend other players come out to SA during their summer to play in our season?
David Pierce: Absolutely, This really has been a great experience for me and I really enjoyed it. Players can really learn alot about the game and themselves from being here. It’s also a good way to give back to the game and teach players that are not as privileged as myself or most players in the States.
PHN: How you fitting in with your team mates and the other players in South Africa?
David Pierce: I would say so, I think at first a lot of the players might have been intimidated by me. but once they got to know me a bit, then it was real easy. I’ve met alot of very nice people, and some will probably be my friends for the rest of my life.
PHN: How do you find South Africa in General?
David Pierce: Very nice, I love it here, the people are really friendly, hockey is fun and overall it’s just a great place to be.
Contact Gary.Bock@prohockeynews.com
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