Metro Direct U15 Colts Hockey Team — Ben Algie, Ethan Campbell, Tom Collier, Hunter de Ridder, Thomas Duncan, Daniel Fletcher, Alex James, Soloman Kaihe, Zach Lee, Charlie O’Hara, Kane O’Hara, Will Roberts, Joshua Smit (Captain), Oscar Smith, Thomas van Rysewyk, Nicholas Zhou. by PNBHS

Junior Super Eight Hockey Tournament

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The Metro Direct U15 Colts played in the Junior Super Eight hockey tournament held in New Plymouth during tournament week. Below is a summary of how the team fared.

A new initiative from the Super Eight High Schools' saw a Junior Super Eight tournament played for the first time due to various tournament cancellations as a result of Covid-19. Unfortunately, three teams (Gisborne, Rotorua and Hastings Boys' High Schools') were unable to field teams, so the remaining five teams played a round robin format.

New Plymouth Boys’ High School – (2 -2 draw). We found ourselves down 1 nil early on, but two good goals followed in the first half. However, further goal scoring chances went unconverted. The second half was an even encounter and we held our lead up until the last few minutes when New Plymouth scored. Goal scorers – Alex James & Thomas van Rysewyk.

Tauranga Boys’ College – (2-1 win). Again, we found ourselves 1 nil down due to some unstructured play. The situation was remedied and we managed to score two goals, although the match was very tight for both sides. Goal scorers – Oscar Smith & Thomas van Rysewyk

Hamilton Boys’ High School – (Nil all draw). With tired bodies, unforced errors crept into our game. Hamilton played very well with patient structure. On at least two occasions we should have scored, unfortunately we were unable to do so resulting with the match ending in a draw.

Napier Boys’ High School – (4-2 win). Napier hadn’t beaten any of the other sides but were improving with each match. We found ourselves playing “catch-up” being down 1 nil then 1-2. We started to dominate the second half of this match and luckily gained a much-needed win. Goal scorers – Thomas Duncan, Will Roberts, Oscar Smith and Thomas van Rysewyk.

The final tournament result saw us finish in second place behind Tauranga Boys' High School, their only loss of the tournament was to us but won all their other round robin matches. Unfortunately, our two drawn matches cost us overall, finishing one point behind Tauranga. All the players were a credit to PNBHS both on and off the field.