Happy Monday Blazians,

Thank you to the many wonderful members that helped out your club with our canteen duties this past weekend. As many commented, it’s actually quite a good vantage point to watch hockey …and it’s warm!!! Thank you also to all of our members who have helped out throughout the year. As a volunteer-based sport, association, and club, many hands make light work. Our only club volunteer requirement nowadays is the canteen, and it is fantastic to have so many people help out, even at short notice. So, thank you !

Find here a summary of our teams Semi Final’s matches, results for the entire weekend, and match times for this coming weekends matches, the Preliminary Finals. Note, also, on the Sunday this week at 4:00pm is Hockey Ballarat’s presentation of awards, including of competition B&F’s, Club people awards, umpires awards etc. Be sure to come up and support your local association for this event, following the conclusion of the women’s Preliminary Final’s match.

~ Summary of Semi Finals ~

Across the semi final weekend, we had a number of Blaze teams involved in some nerve-biting finals hockey. We’re not sure if the spectators nails or the players nails are shorter! Here’s a quick summary of matches.

U11’s : Continuing with the Friday nights, this small but enthusiastic group of spirited 6-11 year olds enjoy an hours-worth of abbreviated match-hockey. With lots of running comes lots of learning, and the kids have come off each week with a bigger grin then they arrive with, all excited to play. Congrats also to the parents for withstanding Ballarat’s winter Friday nights. We look forward to the many more years these kids will be playing hockey, and Blaze is proud to be the club to have engaged you in our wonderful sport!

U14’s : Blazers BLACK v Blazers ORANGE Derby (numero uno).
Wtih Samantha on one side of the dugout, and Tayla on the other-side, poor Adam was split in-two as he ran subs for both benches!
Both benches that came from the same dugout, as these kids have grown together over the past 18-months, being a part of the one team in term 2, this was the first match where they (briefly) become opponents….and it was encouraging to see how much fun they all had!!
After the initial nerves of finals hockey settled, the match was played as evenly as any match witnessed this year. Orange would attack, win a short, and have assistant-coach-runner-Adam deliver masks. Black would defend superbly, counterattack, and win their own shorts (to have Adam run the masks up the other end!). This only added to the enjoyment of all players, as smiles were witnessed from all across the field.
With finals hockey though, there must be a winner. As such, and with the assistance of a deflection, Blazers Black came out on top of this 1 v 2 top-of-the-ladder play-off for a spot in the Grand Final. Congratulations to these kids, as Blazers Orange get the second-chance next week against Bobcats.

U16/17’s : Blazers ORANGE v EGC Gold.
Under the guidance of Coach Roger, our Blazers Orange were ready and eager to go for this top-of-the-table clash, with the winner going through to the Grand Final. EGC came out of the blocks, fast! Taken a-back by the ferocious start of EGC, our ORANGE Blazers fought gallantly to start clawing their way back into the match. (Our Blazers Orange had knocked this team off in home-and-away season matches, so the day was still young). Until a stray ball found the stomach of a Blaze Orange player, unsettling our team for a period – our player is okay! Very colourful bruise though (all the colours of the rainbow!).
Into the second-half, and with time heavily against our Orange Blazers, they fought tooth-and-nail, across every inch of the field to keep the ball in our attacking half for the remainder of the match. Unfortunately, the EGC defense held-up, and they kept their early lead. Although the scoreline didn’t go Orange’s way, they can hold their heads high, as they all played with the spirit and ethos of our Blaze club. As a bonus, they also get the second-chance this week in a knock-out preliminary final. GO BLAZE!

U16/17’s : Blazers BLACK V EGC Blue.
A knockout semi-final, Coach Connor had the Blazers BLACK group in the change rooms talking tactics right up until the whistle to start the match ….and it payed off! Right from the word GO our Blazers Black had eyes for the Hockey Ball, and did everything in their power to make sure they had control of play as often as possible. All across the field, Connor can be proud of this group for playing the epitome of team sport: Playing as a team!
From the three forwards, right down to the two backs and the goal keeper, all the kids did what they could to support one-another for the entire match. This proved a master-stroke, as EGC behind on the scoreboard in the second half, started to rely on a few of their older U16/17 players, while Black just kept doing their team-tactics, and shut-down everything EGC could throw at them. This was also arguably the most nervous/intense Junior match of the morning, and our kids played with nerves of steel, relying on what Connor et al. had taught them at training across the season, and executing hockey skills textbook style. Congratulations to this group on their win, as they now meet Blazers Orange in the knockout Prelim-Final next week. GO BLAZE!

Women : Blaze ORANGE v Blaze BLACK Derby
The women’s competition has been a closely-fought battle between 2-5, as these four teams (in order, Grampians, Blaze Orange, Blaze Black and SOBHC) finished the season within 6-points of each other, and the latter-three within only-three points of each other, Blaze has been fortunate enough to have come out on top of crucial season-matches to have both women’s teams make finals. Unfortunately for us though, they met in the knockout semi-final 3 v 4.
There was a large contingent of Blaze spectators on the sideline to enjoy the spectacle, which both teams (and some key goal keepers) gave the crowd plenty to cheer (and laugh!) about. Unsure of which colour to cheer for, “GO BLAZE” was the common phrase shouted throughout the match….which epitomises how close this match was! 1 – 0 at the end of full-time, and realistically, the scoreline could have gone either way!
Coach of the Black side, James, had his troops marching early as Black looked to get on-top of Orange early. However, Playing-Coach Megan and her team weren’t unnerved and held-strong early. This was pretty much how the match developed, as a lot of the play occured in and around the 25-to-D areas, with the forwards and defenders of both teams engaging in fierce contests.
However, as with all finals, a victor had to be found, and this was found with Orange sacrificing defence to counter-attack with extra bodies and overwhelm the Black defence. A solid, low, push-flick was lost between the legs of both teams and sailed into the back of the goal. Sadly, this put an end to Black’s finals campaign, as Orange head to the knock-out Prelim Final against Grampians this weekend.

Umpires
We are very privileged at Blaze to have such numerous and depth of umpires within our club, and akin to players, it’s a special feeling to be able to umpire Finals Hockey. We had a number of officials involved throughout both Finals Day’s, with Jake involved Saturday and Sunday, and James, Mitch and Aaron Carter involved on the Sunday. James and Jake had arguably the hottest-contested senior match, with their whistles and cards getting quite the work out. Aaron was treated to a top-of-the-table men’s match clash, seeing the match won under extra time. While Mitch gallantly adorned the Hockey Vic hat during the women’s 1 v 2 clash, that unfortunately was a bit scrappy.
Congratulations to these officials and unsung heroes, that without them, there is no game. Be sure to thank your umpires after each match, win, loss, or draw. #thanksump

Spectators
A big congratulations and thank you to the many club members who made an appearance across the two days. It was great to see so many parents on the bleachers Saturday enjoying the Junior hockey, while it was also encouraging to see some of our Mens players out-and-about cheering the Black’n’Orange teams on.

~ Semi Final Results ~
U14 Comp
Blaze Black 1 def Blaze Orange 0
Bobcats 1 def EGC 0

U16/17 Comp
EGC Gold 5 def Blaze Orange 1
Blaze Black 2 def EGC Blue 0

Men
Bobcats 4 def EGC Blue 1
EGC Gold 4 def SOBHC 3

Women
Blaze Orange 1 def Blaze Black 0
EGC Gold 3 def Grampians 1

~ Preliminary Final Match Times ~
Saturday 3rd September
9:00am : U14 Blazers ORANGE v Bobcats
10:00am : U16/17 Blazers ORANGE v Blazers BLACK

Sunday 4th September
12:30pm : Men SOBHC v Bobcats
2.00pm : Women Grampians v Blaze ORANGE
4.00pm HB Presentation Afternoon Tea