Canberra Showdown: The Two Unbeaten Men’s Sides Meet, and Four Men Are Tied on Five Goals
Only two men’s sides in Hockey One are still perfect after three rounds. They play each other on Friday night in Canberra, and the winner goes clear at the top. It doesn’t get much simpler than that.
Canberra Chill host HC Melbourne at EPC Solar Hockey Stadium, the men at 12:00pm PKT and the women at 1:45pm PKT. Both men’s sides are 3-0. Canberra have the league’s best goal difference after edging the Tassie Tigers 4-3 in Hobart, Dylan Brick scoring twice. HC Melbourne arrive after the comeback of the season so far: they trailed the Melbourne Cobras 4-2 with 12 minutes left in the first derby, then scored six goals in the last ten minutes to win 8-5. Nathan Ephraums finished it with a goal and a conversion in the final minute. A team that does that doesn’t get rattled by going behind in Canberra.
The scoring race makes it even better. Brick and Ephraums are both on five goals, level with Jake Staines and Ehren Hazell at the top of the men’s chart. Somebody in Canberra on Friday night is going to break clear, or somebody is going to be left behind. For our money, Brick at home, with the Canberra crowd behind him, has the edge. But Ephraums in the final minute of a derby is not a man you bet against.
The women’s game matters just as much. Both sides are level on six points, one win behind the Perth Thundersticks, the last unbeaten women’s team. Canberra bounced back from their first loss with a 4-2 win in Hobart, Valentina Costa Biondi converting two penalty corners. HC Melbourne won the women’s derby 2-1 through Mihaylia Howell’s goal and conversion. The winner on Friday stays right on Perth’s heels. The loser starts to drift.
And keep an eye on Saturday night in Adelaide, where Blake Govers goes for four goalscoring games in a row. Govers has scored in all three of NSW Pride’s games, and his 45th Hockey One goal extended his own record even as Perth handed the Pride men their first loss. He faces Adelaide Fire, who were beaten 10-1 by Brisbane in Round 3 and need a response at home. Govers against a wounded defence, with a record to extend, is exactly the kind of subplot that makes a round worth watching.
The other Round 4 games are in Hobart on Saturday, Tassie Tigers against Brisbane Blaze, and in Perth on Sunday, where the Thundersticks women, led by Courtney Schonell and her five goals, the most in the women’s competition, host the Melbourne Cobras. The Cobras men are still chasing their first win after three defeats. Perth away is about as tough as it gets.
Friday night in Canberra is the one, though. Two unbeaten sides, four men on five goals, and top spot on the line. Somebody’s perfect record ends. That’s why you watch.
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