THREE teams – Maple veterans, Rockets mixed and A Badd Connection women – are on the surge to repeat as champions in the Banks International Hockey Festival.Mount Gay Maple needed a golden goal from festival chairman David Rouse to see off All Stars 3-2 in an extra time semi-final thriller at the Hockey Centre yesterday.Penalty corner lashes from Venslough Leacock and Tyrone Walkes twice put Maple ahead in regulation, but the Stars equalised twice through Marson Small and Jeffrey Webb to send the tie to the extra period.Maple will face Die Keulen in the final. The German side also needed a golden goal from Jochen Kluth to sink the hopes of festival rookies Induku Colts of South Africa in their semi.There were more convincing victories for Rockets, who blasted Old Gold Roosters 7-2, and ABC, who took care of UWI by a 4-0 scoreline.Rockets quickly overcame a third-minute Roosters strike with three goals in four minutes to turn the contest around, and seven different goalscorers underlined their strength in depth.The mixed final will be a rematch of the 2009 title game with Nedstar Toronto FHC eager for revenge over Rockets, who won 6-1 a year ago.Nedstar, spurred by a Justin Catlin double, ran out 5-1 winners in their semi-final over UWI yesterday. ABC’s quest for a sixth women’s title was relatively straightforward as the triple threat of Keisha Jordan, Nicky Brathwaite and Patrina Brathwaite tormented the UWI defence all afternoon.Jordan, swift and skilful, opened the scoring in the 15th minute before Patrina Brathwaite, affectionately known as “Pixie”, doubled the lead ten minutes later with a tap-in from close range.UWI enjoyed their best spell early in the second half with Nakira Downes to the forefront.But ABC were always dangerous coming forward and right-winger Sarah Ennor set up Nicky Brathwaite in the 57th minute and Emma Grenon six minutes later to put the match beyond the Cave Hill girls.The other women’s semi-final, Deacons versus Bajans Fuh Real, as well as both men’s semi-finals, were played last night.Semi-final results:
VeteransMaple 3 (Venslough Leacock, Tyrone Walkes, David Rouse), All Stars 2 (Marson Small, Jeffrey Webb)Die Keulen 1 (Jochen Kluth), Induku Colts 0MixedRockets 7 (Rohan Thomas, Venslough Leacock, Mark Murray, Ramon Leacock, Chad Ifill, Adrian Nicholls, Katrina Greaves), Old Gold Roosters 2 (Shannon Simmons).Nedstar Toronto FHC 5 (Justin Catlin 2, Peter Harris, Jaco Crouse, Tahir Zaman), UWI 1 (Jamal Jordan).WomenA Badd Connection 4 (Keisha Jordan, Patrina Brathwaite, Nicky Brathwaite, Emma Grenon), UWI 0.
