Northside Griffins senior men impress in Joburg Hockey League

With the seniors’ edition of the Joburg Hockey League underway, the Northside Griffins men are beginning to be a force to be reckoned with.

The league started on March 11 with matches taking place at Randburg Astro. A number of Beaulieu Hockey Academy players have been drafted in to play in the six teams participating, with most of them playing for Northside Griffins.

The team won three matches in three days, with their most recent win being after a penalty shoot-out against Mzansi Hawks. The match was intense, with two goals coming from Griffins strikers Travis Krumples and Melrick Maddocks who each scored via penalty corners.
In the final chukka, Liam Hermanus of the Hawks got his side back in the game after he scored from a rebounded penalty corner. With field goals counting as two, both teams were neck-and-neck and the match ended at 2–2.

With the scores level, the game went to a penalty shoot-out. Tristan le Forrestier was the only successful striker for the Hawks, with Maddocks and Marvin Simons securing a 2–1 win for the Griffins.
Griffins coach Moabi Malebye said the match was incredibly intense and credited his team for a strong performance throughout the weekend. The side have not played together for long but he said they have been able to gel and play as a team.

“We played well in the first, second and third quarter. The Hawks are a very experienced side with Miguel [da Graca] and Gerald [Mpopo] and we knew they would come at us. One or two cards came for us at the wrong time making the last five six minutes very tough.

“All the moments in this match are teachable moments, and hopefully next week we can be a little bit better. This group is very coachable and they all want to do better,” he said.
Matches and finals are set to take place from March 17 to 21.

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