Govers Goes for Five From Five as Pride Meet Chill in Sydney
Some streaks sneak up on you. This one hasn’t. Blake Govers has scored in every NSW Pride game this Hockey One season, four from four, and on Saturday he goes for five from five against Canberra Chill at Sydney Olympic Park.
His 46th Hockey One goal was the only goal of the game in Adelaide last weekend, a 35th-minute penalty corner that beat the Fire 1-0. It wasn’t pretty, but it was the kind of goal that wins tight games and keeps a side in the hunt. Pride sit fourth on the men’s ladder, and Govers is the reason they’re there rather than mid-table.
Chill won’t make it easy. They’ve been one of the league’s better sides this season, third on the ladder, and they remember what happened last time these two met in the big games. But Pride are at home, the women play first at 1:00pm AEDT (7:00am PKT), and the men follow at 2:45pm AEDT (8:45am PKT). Saturday in Sydney, with a crowd behind them, is exactly the stage Govers likes.
He’s not the only scoring story in Round 5, either. Nathan Ephraums leads the men’s race on ten goals, five of them in one game in Canberra, and his unbeaten HC Melbourne side open the round on Friday night against Tassie Tigers in a grand final rematch. That’s the headline fixture. But the scoring race is where the season’s story is being written, and Govers is the only man keeping Ephraums honest.
Perth’s women are the league’s other unbeaten side, four from four with just three goals conceded, and they host Brisbane Blaze on Saturday. Pride’s women, fresh from scoring seven in Adelaide, are third. Sunday heads to Bendigo, where Melbourne Cobras play Adelaide Fire with both men’s sides still hunting their first win of the season.
Round 5 runs Friday to Sunday, streamed live and free on 7plus in Australia and on the Hockey One Global Pass everywhere else. Friday’s grand final rematch is the main event. Saturday’s question is simpler: can anyone stop Blake Govers?
