Canberra Chill Do the Hobart Double: 4-3 and 4-2 Wins End the Tigers’ Unbeaten Starts
Friday night in Hobart belonged to the visitors. Canberra Chill took both games of the Round 3 double-header against the Tassie Tigers, winning the men’s top-of-the-table clash 4-3 and the women’s game 4-2, and the unbeaten starts are over in Tasmania.
The men’s game was the one everyone came for. Both sides arrived 2-0, both had scored 13 and conceded three, and they shared top spot. Something had to give, and it gave in Canberra’s favour: 4-3 to the Chill, confirmed by both clubs’ official channels. The league’s top-scorer duel — Ehren Hazell and Jake Staines, five goals apiece coming in — will have to wait for the rematch to find a winner.
The women’s game had its own drama. The Chill scored first in the second quarter, the Tigers equalised before half-time and then took a 2-1 lead in the third, and for a while it looked like the home crowd would get their win. Then Canberra scored three unanswered — 2-2, 3-2 before the end of the third, 4-2 in the fourth — and that was that. Clinical, ruthless, and exactly what good road teams do.
What it means
The Chill leave Hobart as the team to beat. Two wins on the road, against a side that hadn’t lost, and the men’s ladder has a new outright leader. The Tigers, for all the home comforts of the Tasmanian Hockey Centre, now know the standard.
Round 3 rolls on Saturday: NSW Pride host the Perth Thundersticks in Sydney, Brisbane Blaze face Adelaide Fire, and Sunday brings the first Melbourne derby. But Friday night was Canberra’s. The double in Hobart doesn’t happen by accident.
Related: Hockey One Round 3 Hobart preview, Hockey One Round 3 team lists, Hockey One Round 3 Saturday preview, Highlights.
