BC Island, BC Men capture National Championships
July 4, 2010
The province of British Columbia once again proved to be the field hockey hotbed of Canada after both BC Island (women) and Team BC (men) captured their respective national championship titles Sunday afternoon in Victoria.
Team BC men needed a penalty stroke competition to put away Ontario after both regulation and overtime ended in a 1-1 stalemate. BC’s Scott Tupper opened the game’s scoring in the 28th minute on a penalty corner. Ontario’s Jagdish Gill would net the equalizer in the 40th minute.
Tupper, Dave Jameson, Philip Wright, and Iain Smythe would score for BC in the penalty stroke competition. Ken Pereira and Eric Jan Iding scored for Ontario. BC goalkeeper Dave Carter played an outstanding second half and overtime to secure the victory.
In the women’s gold medal match BC Island needed 23 minutes before opening the scoring when Anna Kozniuk converted on a penalty corner. The host team’s Natalie Wise and Kira Graham would then each score before Ontario attempted a comeback.
In the 51st minute the Ontarians scored their first goal of the game when Laura Dowling put the ball in the back of the net on a penalty corner. Ontario’s Jess Buttinger scored 12 minutes later to cut the lead to one. With no time left on the clock Ontario was awarded a penalty corner but failed to convert making BC Island tournament champions.
In Sunday’s other match BC Mainland took home the women’s bronze after defeating BC U18 Blue 1-0 in overtime on a penalty corner goal by Samantha Smith.
The United States finishes third in the men’s tournament but Alberta is awarded the bronze as the third best finishing Canadian team.
