The Boys Hockey First XI completed a memorable first half of the season with two successive victories over Auckland Grammar School and Rangitoto College in the last fortnight of Term Two.

Roared on by the superb vociferous support from the school, the Hockey First XI turned in an excellent performance to beat Auckland Grammar School 3-1 in the decisive match to retain the Auckland Secondary School Championship and the King’s v Grammar Hockey Shield. The XI got off to the worst possible start, though, when nervous defensive errors gifted Grammar the opening goal of the game, but King’s soon grabbed control of the tie and never allowed Grammar back into the match. Dominating territory and possession, King’s could not level the scores though until seven minutes after the half-time interval when Jared Panchia’s clever deflected shot whistled back off the crossbar and Nick Sissons pounced on the rebound to score a fine opportunist effort. Two minutes later, King’s took the lead when Ben Horne’s ferocious penalty corner strike proved unstoppable. With King’s in full flow, Kim Kingstone scored a well-worked third with a clever reverse-stick hit for a commanding victory. Players of the day were captain Adam Fleming and defender Ben Horne, midfielder Jared Panchia and striker Nick Sissons.

The on the last Wednesday of the Term, the Boys Hockey First XI crushed the second best North Harbour team Rangitoto College, 7-2 in an outstanding performance in the first round of the Auckland Inter-City Championship. The team came out on fire in the first half and never gave Rangitoto a chance to settle, smashing in six unanswered goals. Player of the day, Alex Hannon, grabbed a hat-trick including a superlative individual goal for his third with Michael Ritchie and Kim Kingstone scoring two goals each for a convincing victory. There were also good performances from Ben Andrews and Adam Wilcox.

Sixteen boys from King’s Hockey took part in the annual national age group tournaments all over New Zealand in the holidays. Specific details will follow after the holidays.

 

Keith Rowley
First XI Hockey Coach