Round 11 of the NMHA comp saw the club invovled in 4 games over the weekend.

On Saturday 6th Grade delivered thier best game of the season with a commanding 4-1 victory over Cardiff. A pair of goals to Tim Rutter before half time, and one each for Keith Southall and Tim McDonald in the second half excitted the large crowd that had gathered.

The team backed up Sunday evening to tackle Wests, and walked away brimming with confidence after a classy 2-0 win. Michael Bailey and Keith Southall were the goal scorers, but the result was set up with a solid defensive display. Sean Forsyth, Greg McDonald and Owen Salisbury kept the Wests offence quiet, and Ian Clarke in goal had some great PC saves on the few occasions Wests got into the D. Thats 3 wins a row now for 6ths, and thier mid season revival sees them shooting up the competition ladder.

4th Grade played out a 0-0 draw with Wests, but the game was quite exciting and tense. Both teams were guilty of wasting opportunities up front but some solid scrambling defence by the Hornets allowed them to secure a handy draw with one of the top teams in the competition. Josh Barnett, Daniel McDonald and Nik Thiele roamed the midfield causing havoc wherever they went. And Paul Hockridge pulled off several great saves.

3rds defence of thier 2009 title is well and truelly on track after a commanding 6-1 victory over Tigers Black. Graydon Hubbard and Paul Baxter ran riot all game, dominating the midfield to the point where the ball rarely made it into our defensive half. 2 goals each to Ben Salisbury and Todd Denholm, as well as strikes to Chris Southall and Scott Rainbow ensured the team was rewared handsomely on the scoreboard for all thier dominance. Craig Gazzard was like a rock at Left Half, anything that came his way was halted in its tracks.

With the juniors all winning on Wednesday, and 3 wins and a draw for the men, has been a highly successful week for the Port Stephens brand of hockey.

Last night saw the clubs juniors win all their games on the same night, for the first time this season.

U10 Cougars were too strong for Jellybeans, winning 8-2. The teamplay was superb, with Liam, Cameron and Declan distributing the ball from the defence to the forwards with a combination of short passing runs and the odd long ball to a high attacker. Chloe, Natasha, Luke and Will all did thier bit up front, using the ball to do all the work with some good passing to create space and goal scoring opportunities.

The U10 Wildcats secured back to back victories for the first tiome this season, with a 5-0 win over Redbacks. Coach Jason Ellem expressed his pleasure with the team, indicating each player has improved thier energy levels over the last few weeks and this has seen the team performing well. Good games by Deklan, Sophie and Jack.

U13's were shortstaffed, with just 7 players available for the clash with Maitland Kookaburras. However the team wasnt concerned, as the youngsters defended well and used thier wingers to get the ball down the field and into the circle plenty of times. Chelsea and Molly were playing particularly well, their best performances by far this year. Natasha was able to set the first goal up when she took a quick free hit, distributed it to Declan on the baseline and he found Brendan unmarked in front of the goal for an easy tap in. Then the second goal came after a PC shot was saved by the keeper, Molly stopped the rebound and Declan pounced to slot the ball home under the keeper. 2-0 victory was well deserved.

The smiles on the faces of all the clubs juniors show how much they are enjoying thier hockey and as a result their skill levels are increasing, thier confidence is rising and thier friendships with teammates is improving every week. 

The Gloucester Carnival was run for the first time in 5 years on Sunday. It is always an enjoyable day and fun to play hockey on the old skool natural grass.

Anyways as defending champions we didnt really have as strong a team as we did when the title was claimed back in 2005, but we gave it a good show. Most of the guys were from the 4th grade squad, with a couple of 3rd graders and 6th graders.

First game was against hosts Gloucester, and it took a while to get moving but eventually we prevailed 2-0.

Then we fought out a 1-1 draw with Tigers, who had sent a strong side full of 'grass' experience, and a number of former Gloucester residents in the side.

Maitland 1 was our next opponent, and this side was chock full of PHL and 2nd Graders. We were under pressure for most of the game and went down 2-0, but we did have a few chances of our own.

Game 4 saw us against Cundletown Cougars, a side from the Manning Valley competition. We dominated the game and got up 3-1.

Our last pool match was against Maitland 2. They produced some good hockey and at 1-1 we were a little concerned, but a late charge saw the Hornets score 2 goals to get the game 3-1.

Our results meant we had qualified 3rd for the finals, and we drew Tigers in the SF. It was going to be  a tough encounter, and the usual rivalry when the 2 clubs meet was evident even on a social day such as this. The game was a highly physical encounter, and full of passion from both sets of players. Port started the better of the 2 sides, with a number of chances that were saved by the goal keeper. Tigers though eventually prevailed 2-0 and went through to the final.

It was pleasing to see Scott and George selected to umpire the final. A credit to the strength of umpiring in our club.