Thursday 21 May 2026
A hat-trick by Oliver Stewart (Year 12, Marsden) and a penalty corner by Tarquin Johnson (Year saw the Boys’ hockey team take the honours with a 4-0 victory over Auckland Grammar School. As is the tradition, the first competition game between the two schools is the game where they compete for the Shield.
Conditions were perfect on Wednesday 20 May at the Auckland Grammar turf as the teams faced each other in this eagerly awaited fixture. The last time that King's held the Shield was 11 years ago in 2015 so it was exciting to see King’s starting well dominating possession with patient passing and maintaining pressure on the opposition. It didn’t take long for King’s to take the lead with a PC strike from Tarquin Johnson in the 6th minute and this was quickly followed by second from a superb reverse stick shot by Oliver Stewart.
King’s continued to control the game with the back four of Edward Mitchelson (Year 13, Marsden), Henry Fletcher (Year 12, Major), Will Downing (Year 13, School) and Ian Mitchelson (Year 11, Marsden) not only shutting down the Grammar forward line but also developing attacking plays with overlaps on either side of the turf. In the 9th minute of the second quarter King’s extended their lead to 3-0 when a PC strike by Tarquin Johnson was saved by the goalkeeper only for Oliver Stewart to volley the ball into the Grammar goal!
At half time the message was to maintain the pressure and keep our structure with a passing game. Grammar did force two PC’s in the 4th quarter but these were well defended with Ben Woodhams (Year 13, Selwyn) pulling off a good save in goal. King’s got the final goal late in the game when Oliver Stewart intercepted a pass and beat the keeper with a rocket like shot to complete his hat trick. This was the perfect way for the match to finish as this was Oliver's 75th competition game for the College - an incredible achievement and fitting that it was the match that reclaimed the Shield after 11 years away!