Last Saturday, the West Vancouver Vipers beat a resilient University of British Columbia Thunderbirds team 3-0 to capture the BC Premier Division title, of the Vancouver Women’s Field Hockey League. The Vipers were coming off a strong 13-3-5 regular season.
The game was played at West Vancouver’s Rutledge Field turf, with snow-capped mountains and clear blue skies overhead. There was a pre-game presentation to UBC’s Head Coach Hash Kanjee, thanking him for his incredible 19-year career at UBC, and his huge role in the development of field hockey over the past years. This was Hash’s final game as UBC coach.
The game started amidst a flurry of offensive chances, with both teams trying to find the early marker. The crowd was treated to an exciting brand of hockey. Able to successfully defend a few early UBC penalty corners, the young West Vancouver Vipers slowly found their feet and began to dictate the pace of play, moving the ball up to Hannah Haughn in dangerous positions on the field. Haughn showed the crowd her international class throughout the first-half, and slammed two field goals into the UBC net, giving her Vipers a 2-0 lead at the half. UBC continued to press the Vipers throughout the first 35-minutes, with some impressive attacking from Natalie Sourisseau, but were unable to find the back of the net.
The second-half started with a flurry of chances for the UBC team, pushing the Vipers deep into their half, and moving the ball around the field with conviction. Despite their dominant play for the first 15-minutes, they were unable to capitalize, and remained 2-0 down. This forced UBC to take some offensive risks, pushing players forward into the attack. With 10-minutes to play in the game, Hannah Haughn again scored for the Vipers, giving her a hat-trick for the game. The 3-0 marker took any chance of a comeback away.
“The game was really special for all of the girls, on both teams,” says Vipers Head Coach Steve Davis. “21 of the starting 22 players in this game had been coached by Hash at some point in their playing careers. Hash has had such a positive impact on Canadian hockey for so many years, and he now passes along a very strong program and legacy of excellence to the next coach. He has coached so many of us throughout the years, and I hope that we continue to see Hash around the field for many years to come… when he’s not fishing of course.”
