Burns Hits a Hat-Trick and Govers Makes It Six From Six as Melbourne Stay Perfect

Cooper Burns doesn’t miss twice. The HC Melbourne forward scored a hat-trick on Friday night as the league leaders beat NSW Pride 6-2 at Parkville, and he did it the hard way, converting both of his one-on-one challenges to go with the goals themselves.

That’s the Hockey One twist. Score a field goal and you get a free shot at the keeper for an extra one. Burns buried his penalty corner in the 9th minute, then scored from open play in the 24th and 58th minutes and converted the challenge both times. Damon Steffens added a penalty corner in the 33rd minute. Burns accounted for five of the six, Steffens the other, and Melbourne’s perfect record stayed intact.

Six from six. Eighteen points from eighteen. They’d already booked their finals spot before a ball was hit on Friday, but this was the game that was supposed to test them, against the only side that looked capable of catching them. It didn’t. Melbourne were 3-1 up at the break and never let the Pride back into it.

Govers keeps his own streak alive

The Pride still left Melbourne with something. Blake Govers scored in the 12th minute from a penalty corner, and that makes it six games in a row he’s found the net this season. It’s his 48th Hockey One goal, and he’s now scored in every game the Pride have played. Tim Brand added the Pride’s second from open play in the 57th minute, but his challenge went begging, and that was that.

Govers is the story of the Pride’s season even in defeat. The problem is the table. The Pride sit second on 11 points, and they still haven’t booked their finals place. Their last chance comes on Thursday 20 November at home in Newcastle against the Tassie Tigers. Lose that in regulation and the finals race gets very uncomfortable for a side that started the season as one of the favourites.

Burns, meanwhile, now sits level with team-mate Nathan Ephraums on 13 goals for the season at the top of the scoring charts. Ephraums didn’t score on Friday night. He didn’t need to. Melbourne have goals everywhere right now, and the gap between them and the rest keeps growing.

The round goes on

Friday’s double-header was the Pride Round opener, with the Pride Pledge read out before push-back and the whole league dressed up for it. The women’s game went to a shootout, which the Pride won 3-1 after a 1-1 draw, and that’s covered in our Friday night wrap.

Saturday takes the action to Hobart, where the Tassie Tigers host the Melbourne Cobras, and to Perth, where the Thundersticks put their unbeaten record on the line against Adelaide Fire. Sunday finishes in Brisbane with the Blaze against Canberra, the game that decides whether the Pride women are in the finals or sweating on the last round.

For our money, Melbourne’s men are now clear favourites for the title, and it’s hard to see who stops them. But if the Pride get to the Gold Coast, Govers in this kind of form makes them dangerous against anyone.

Round 6 remaining fixtures (all times PKT)

Saturday 14 November, Hobart

• Tassie Tigers v Melbourne Cobras, men 7:00am, women 8:45am

Saturday 14 November, Perth

• Perth Thundersticks v Adelaide Fire, men 12:30pm, women 2:15pm

Sunday 15 November, Brisbane

• Brisbane Blaze v Canberra Chill, women 9:00am, men 10:45am

Every match streams live and free on 7plus in Australia and through the Hockey One Global Pass overseas. The finals are 5-6 December on the Gold Coast.