Defence Force, Magnolia, QPCC win Ventures hockey titles

Defence Force and QPCC defended their respective men's and mixed veterans titles as Ventures Hockey Club's 19th hockey indoor invitational tournament came to an exciting conclusion at the Woodbrook Youth Facility on Sunday evening.

In a thrilling men's finale, the Army stickmen just saw off the threat from QPCC, as they edged the Parkites 4-3 in a penalty shootout after a 2-2 tie in 30 minutes of regulation time.

Defence Force took the lead inside the first 60 seconds through Shaquille Daniel, and their lead extended by the 13th minute after a goal from Caleb Guiseppie.

Hunting a second title on the day after beating Police in the veterans final, QPCC battled back and got a slick goal from Shawn Lee Quay just before the half. The Parkites held the momentum for most of the second period and they got a deserved equaliser with a close-range strike from Jordan Viera in the 18th minute.

Try as they might, neither team could get the winner in regulation, and the reigning champions held their nerve in the shootout with Daniel beating keeper Reiza Hosein with a pair of well-taken penalties, to go along with conversions from Mickel Pierre and captain Dylan Francis.

Defence Force keeper Karlos Stephens sealed the title as he quickly smothered QPCC's fourth penalty try to give Army the win via the sudden-death route.

Earlier, in the mixed veterans finale, QPCC held off a late surge from Police as they won the match 3-2 to regain their crown. The impressive Jerazeno Bell scored twice in the first half to lead QPCC to victory in the final.

In the women's finale, Magnolia conceded an early goal to outgoing champions Paragon, but they roared back with five goals to clinch the final by a 5-1 margin. Savannah De Freitas and Brianna Govia scored two goals each to help Magnolia dethrone the Paragon outfit.

On Saturday, Police were able to register wins in both of their matches in the men's B category – scoring five goals in both games as they got by Barbados' University of the West Indies (UWI) Blackbirds and Guyana's Saints with relative ease. Five different players put their names on the scoresheet as Police defeated the Blackbirds 5-1, with Jordan Reynos scoring an impressive hat-trick in Police's 5-2 win over the Saints.

QPCC won both of their games in the men's A category, as they got tight victories over Fatima (2-1) and defending champions Defence Force (4-3) respectively. QPCC came from a goal down to beat Fatima, with Jordan Viera and Marcus Pascal scoring within the space of three minutes to erase a 12th-minute goal from Jovan Wren. QPCC's Jerazeno Bell then had an exciting head-to-head battle with Defence Force's Shaquille Daniel, with both players scoring hat-tricks. However, Bell's 30th-minute strike was enough to give QPCC the win over Army in the seven-goal thriller.

QPCC also turned heads in the mixed veterans B category, as they got a punishing 23-2 win over Notre Dame. Once again, Bell was in a free-scoring mood, as he, Mahinder Singh and Dominic Young scored five goals each for the Parkites' veteran team against Notre Dame. Kadeem Fortune also found the net four times as Notre Dame were completely blown out of the water.

The Notre Dame outfit also had a rough outing in their second encounter against Guyana Cricket Club (GCC), as they suffered a heavy 13-1 loss. Kevin Spencer had his way with the stick for GCC as he rattled in seven goals, with Devin Hooper and Orland Semple chipping in with two goals apiece.

In the mixed veterans A category, Fatima whipped Malvern 6-1, with both Dev Lum Kit and Alan Young scoring two goals apiece.

In the women's A category, defending champions Paragon took apart UWI Blackbirds as they registered a big 8-0 win, with Alanna Lewis scoring a hat-trick. Magnolia got a big 6-1 win over Saints in the women's B category, with sisters Shaniah and Savannah De Freitas again finding the net. GCC got a 4-0 win over Police in the women's B category, with Sarah Klautky scoring all four goals.