Hockey One grand finals: Brisbane Blaze win title double, men defeat NSW Pride, women topple Canberra Chill
He’s one of the world’s best players but heartbroken NSW star Blake Govers broke down in tears after his herculean effort was ruined by Brisbane in Hockey One’s answer to State of Origin.
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NSW Pride’s dominance of the Hockey One men’s competition is no more.
At 3-1 up with eight minutes to go in the game, the Blaze were subjected to a frenzied closing flurry from the Pride that ended with an after-the-siren equaliser from Kookaburras star Blake Govers — his third penalty corner finish of the game.
SCROLL DOWN TO READ ALL ABOUT HOW THE BLAZE WOMEN MADE IT A ALL-BRISBANE CLEAN SWEEP OF THIS YEAR’S HOCKEY ONE GRAND FINALS
But the Blaze held their nerve in the ensuing shootout, claiming State of Origin bragging rights, 5-3.
A tearful Govers, the ‘Nathan Cleary’ of world hockey dubbed the ‘Wizard of Oz’, did everything he could to keep the Pride’s perfect record in grand finals alive. His struggle to find words in the post-game interview was an indicator of how much the competition means to these player, given Govers has appeared 149 times for Australia and scored 135 goals, winning Olympic silver and Commonwealth gold.
“I think we threw a haymaker … ah s**t,” a heartbroken Govers told sideline reporter Kate Allman.
“They defended well for a long period of the time, we had enough ball to not take it to shootouts, yeah, it’s tough.”
Govers’ agony was matched by the ecstasy of Blaze gun Jake Whetton — the pair are international teammates.
“It means so much to me, you grow up as a little boy wanting to play for Queensland and I just hope we’ve done the Queensland support in hockey really proud,” Whetton said.
“I’m just really proud of these boys, that (Pride) team’s an unbelievable group of players that have shown over the last three seasons of Hockey One that they are incredibly hard to beat.
“For us to come out here and put it to them and come out on top, as a senior player, I’m just super proud of our group.”
A first-quarter flurry featured plenty of bluster from two teams that fielded no less than 12 players with Kookaburras and Black Sticks international experience — all petering out to nothing on the scoreboard.
It didn’t take long in the second for the floodgates to open.
Classy rocket Whetton launched a cross field aerial that was reeled in by some Corey Weyer wizardry tight against the baseline. He pinpointed Cale Cramer in the goalmouth who popped it in with a little backstick finish. Cramer converted his goal to put the Blaze 2-0 up.
But Govers, after a number of sighters that were either saved or went begging due to sloppy work from his battery, was on the mark, three minutes later, when he nestled a classic low drag into the bottom left corner to give the Pride life.
Weyer, the big unit who controls everything for the Blaze, did his best Govers imitation on 24 minutes, first belting one into the toe of a defender and then punching a hole in the backboard with a low drag to restore the two-goal buffer.
It was a third term much like the first — no goals — before the Pride produced the late pyrotechnics, Govers converting on 52 and then after the siren to stay alive.
Kookaburra Flynn Ogilvie produced the only blemish for either team in the shootout, but it was enough for the Blaze, who went a perfect five-from-five in their one-on-ones with the goalkeeper, to claim the title.
Govers was named man-of-the-match, Pride’s Tim Brand man-of-the-series, but both would trade their individual gongs for the Blaze’s spoils.
BRISBANE BLAZE 3-3(5-3) NSW PRIDE
Blaze: Cramer 17’, 17’, Weyer 24’
Pride: Govers 20’, 52’, 60’
BLAZE MELT CHILL WITH STUNNING LAST-QUARTER FRENZY
—Michael Randall
Canberra sent a hell of a Chill through Brisbane, but the pre-tournament favourites Blaze proved too hot in the Hockey One women’s grand final, fighting back from a goal down to claim its second title in three years with a trio of strikes in the last five minutes of the game to win 4-1.
Gutted by the loss of five young guns away on FIH Junior World Cup duties, the top-of-the-table Blaze went behind the Eight ball in the second quarter when a bustling Mikaela Patterson found Chill captain Kalindi Commerford, who gave perfectly-positioned Irish international Katie Mullan silver service at the back post to go 1-0 up.
The goal wasn’t the rocket it might have been for the Blaze, who continued to allow the Chill to dictate play and control the ball from the back, led by staunch Irish International Roisin Upton.
Brissy never really looked likely to threaten until midway through the third when Hockeyroos superstar Steph Kershaw turned on her trademark class to blast in a laser beam from the right, pinpointing Britt Wilkinson who kissed it past Chill keeper Renee Hunter with a deft deflection to tie the decider up. Hunter was up to the task on the extra try, stopping Wilkinson from getting her shot away and preserving the deadlock.
The Chill didn’t drop their heads but it almost felt cruel that Kommerford should have made it 2-1 moments later — but she fluffed a wide open chance at the back post that bobbled out-of-bounds.
From there, the Chill’s collective skill level just fell away a little and that allowed the classy Brisbane to first take control — and then finish in a Blaze of glory.
Brisbane escaped Saturday’s semi final with an intense shootout win over Perth on Saturday and was hellbent on avoiding a repeat.
But it took until the death for the Blaze to put it away, Dayle Dolkens’ drag flick off a short corner set play from Sav Fitzpatrick bouncing in off Mullan in another cruel blow that handed the Queenslanders the ascendancy.
Hockeyroo goal machine Rosie Malone, quiet for most of the match as she nursed a broken nose from copping a ball to the face in the semi, lifted in the last five and threatened to bust the Chill open as they pulled the goalkeeper in search of an equaliser.
But it was Fitzpatrick who, on a breakaway, first bobbled a tomahawk past two defenders into an open goal and then franked that by making no mistake on her extra chance, to make it 4-1, putting an end to any hope of a Chill revival.
Deservedly adjudged player of the match, Kershaw deferred to her teammates.
“I think it’s just a fantastic team win, so happy to win the championship and that’s what we’ve wanted,” Kershaw said.
“I’m just happy to do my job well and it kind of helped the team out.”
She said the Blaze had a function organised to celebrate after the men’s final.
NSW Pride’s Kaitlin Nobbs was named the 2023 women’s MVP, while her Pride teammate Laura Reid led the tournament goal list with six strikes.
BLAZE 4-1 CHILL
Chill: Katie Mullan 19’
Blaze: Wilkinson 37’, D Dolkens 56’, S Fitzpatrick 59’, 59’
NSW PRIDE MEN ONE STEP AWAY FROM HOCKEY ONE HISTORY
—Todd Balym
NSW Pride are gunning for a Hockey One men’s title three-peat after Blake Govers spearheaded a dominant 6-2 victory over the Tassie Tigers in their semi-final at Canberra on Saturday.
Govers led the way with a man of the match performance, scoring four goals before Tim Brand sealed the victory with a double in the final minute of the game against a 10-man Tigers outfit.
The victory secured the Pride a grand final showdown on Sunday with Brisbane Blaze, who progressed to the final with a dramatic 10-9 penalty shootout victory over HC Melbourne after they finished tied up at 3-all at full-time.
The Pride are seeking a three-peat of championships having won titles in 2022 and 2019 – with no competition held in 2020 and 2021.
“I was just mentally there today,” said Govers after the match.
“Hopefully we can do the same tomorrow.”
Pride captain Jack Hayes praised his team for how they handled Tassie’s early onslaught.
“Semis are sometimes harder than the final,” Hayes said.
“Tassie came like we predicted and we managed to fend them off and we really held their pressure.
“Today we were really patient and kept the ball up their majority of the game.”
In the second semi-final the Blaze and Melbourne fought out a tense contest that had to be settled with penalties as a nearby storm threatened to halt the action.
In a controversial penalty shootout the Blaze were denied a goal due to a back-stick shot, but keeper Mitch Nicholson proved the hero with a crucial saves before Daniel Beale sealed the win with the 13th attempt as the shootout extended well into sudden death.
The Pride will play the Blaze at 5.30pm AEDT on Sunday.
CHILL STUN PRIDE TO BOOK GF SPOT
Canberra Chill has pulled off a semi-final upset over NSW Pride, booking a women’s Hockey One grand final showdown with top seeds Brisbane Blaze on Sunday.
The Chill beat the defending champion Pride 4-1 in Canberra on Saturday afternoon, sparking wild celebrations on the field as if they’d won the gold medal.
NSW had boasted the best defence in the competition going into the finals, but couldn’t withstand the Chill onslaught conceding four straight goals after taking the early lead through Dutch international Meike van Haeringen.
Naomi Evans starred with two goals and was confident the local side could cause another upset in the Sunday final against the Blaze.
“Wow, I’m tired but wow,” said Evans.
“I’m pretty happy. This is history for us, we are super happy to be here and the support was amazing.
“(Winning the grand final) would be everything, it’s something we spoke about a lot of people before us made this Canberra team so strong so we want to do it for everyone tomorrow.”
Player of the match Edwina Bone said the Chill would attack the final knowing they can create history.
“We don’t mind who we play, we know we can get the result against any of the teams in this competition,” she said.
The Blaze had earlier secured their spot in the grand final with a heart-stopping shootout win over Perth Thundersticks after scores were locked 2-all at full-time.
Bec Greiner put the Blaze ahead in the final term, before the quick reply from Penny Squibb had the teams headed towards a shootout which Brisbane won 4-2.
AUSTRALIAN STARS BATTLE FOR TITLE, OLYMPIC SPOTS
—Erin Smith
The nation’s best hockey players will battle it out for the lucrative Hockey One championship title this weekend but for Olympic stars like Rosie Malone and Greta Hayes there is a lot more on the line.
The Hockeyroos athletes will play in the semi-final tomorrow with Malone’s Brisbane Blaze taking on Perth Thundersticks and Hayes’ NSW Pride up against Canberra Chill.
Winning teams will be back on pitch on Sunday for the grand final.
But with an Olympics looming any chance the athletes get on the turf is a chance to impress selectors.
Hayes was part of the Hockeyroos squad who won medals at last year’s World Cup and Commonwealth Games. After a disappointing outing at the Tokyo Olympics – where the Hockeyroos were defeated in the quarterfinals – Hayes is determined to keep her spot for the Paris 2024 Games.
“Selection is in the back of everyone’s minds,” she said.
“They’re selecting the 22 person Olympic squad for next year off the back of nationals which is announced in a couple of weeks so I think that’s definitely at the back of everyone’s minds.
“It’s tough with selection on the line but for me, at the end of the day it’s all about having fun. If you’re having fun then you’re going to be playing your best hockey.”
Malone, 25, said she had tried to put the looming selection at the back of her mind as best as she could and put all her energy into the finals series.
“I think when you get caught up in all that stuff you tend to not play your best hockey,” Malone said.
“It’s going to be very important for a lot of players who are wanting selection to just actually be focused on their job at hand because I think that’ll actually help them play better.
“Our national coach said to us before we started this tournament that she wanted us to be the best player for your team, not necessarily the best player in your team.”
Malone’s Brisbane outfit, who finished the season on top of the ladder, will take on cross country rivals Perth.
Just two competition points separated the top four teams in the women’s competition.
“It’s going to be exciting because all four teams are very good and also very different,” Malone said.
“So it’s really going to be who shows up on the day and scores the most goals.”
NSW Pride finished the season second on goal difference, after racking up the same 22 competition points at Brisbane.
“It was the grand final rematch in round one which was really big,” Hayes said. “It was really good to come out with a win on the back of that but then the next couple of weeks we had a bit of a lapse and we didn’t really perform our best.
“We learnt lots from those couple of weeks and now we have really cemented our way of play and have been on an upwards trend coming into finals.”
It was during that lapse that NSW Pride lost to this weekend’s semi final opponents Canberra Chill.
“We know that they’re not going to just ben an easy walk in the park in the semi-final,” Hayes said.
“We’ve changed a lot of things from that round game against them. We just have to stick to our own processes.
“One of the main differences in this final series is going to be whoever can convert in the attacking circle … being able to put goals away in the circle is going to be really vital.”
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Originally published as Hockey One grand finals: Brisbane Blaze win title double, men defeat NSW Pride, women topple Canberra Chill
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