News and Announcements

image

Faced with adversity, the Tigers again found a way to win.
The Vancouver Island Field Hockey Association competitive division final saw the defending playoff champions go from being on their heels for much of the first half to take control and expose the weaknesses of the Victoria League Select to score five goals in the second half and record a come-from-behind 5-2 victory.
Sunday’s championship on the Lynn “Buzz” Beecroft Field at UVic was indeed a tale of two games.
With the Selects clinging to a hard-fought 1-0 halftime lead on a blistering Sonny Kahlon shot on a second-quarter penalty corner, the run of the play began to shift in the Tigers favour in the third.
Parm Sahota, who scored twice on the day, was left unmarked near the Selects goal and made no mistake tapping in a perfectly placed Josh Brown pass for the 1-1 goal about five minutes in.
Brown’s speed and skill were on display later in the period. He stripped a defender of the ball just inside the 23-metre line, crossed to his left and drilled a reverse past Selects keeper Felix Randall to make it 2-1.
Before the Selects had much chance to recover, Ashley Fernandes pounced on a loose ball deep and drove home a reverse from the opposite side to give his team a two-goal lead heading into the final quarter.
With conditioning becoming a factor for Selects, the Tigers kept up the intensity, continuing to push and attack.
On a penalty corner, outside midfielder Vadym Kirshe, whose fitness level fuelled multiple deep rushes, drilled a low, hard shot into the net to make it 4-1 Tigers at the 10:20 mark of the fourth.
After Sahota had a narrow miss, clanking a shot off the goalpost with about four minutes to go, he made his next attempt count, finishing off some nifty work at the goalmouth for the 5-1 goal.
Full of energy and out to dethrone the champs, the Selects appeared to score in the first minute, but the shot was blown down for a back stick.
After absorbing a pair of late first-quarter chances by Tigers, Selects got on the board first 5:40 into the second when Kahlon ripped a direct shot past Tigers’ keeper Tom Pennells.
It might have been 2-0 a few minutes later, but a goalmouth pass to a diving Sanjiv Galhon wasn’t quite square enough to give him a good deflection angle.
Kahlon, always a steadying influence in the back when he’s in the Selects lineup, cleared a number of dangerous balls out of his end with either aerials or hard passes to teammates on the flanks.
In the end, both he and Josh Brown became non-factors when they were both issued 10-minute yellow cards for a late-game altercation when the game was out of reach.
With no time remaining, Galhon scored on a penalty corner to make the final score 5-2.
The third-place game saw Rebels 1 spread the ball around well against the UVic Vikes in scoring a 5-1 victory.
The winners dominated the second half after opening up a 4-1 lead by the break.
Getting on the scoresheet for Rebels were Dale Kirk, Ethan Picard, Bevan van de Berg, Clive Wheatley and Chris Dahl, while Julian Alonso tallied for the Vikes.
The recreation jamboree scheduled to start the day was reworked to better accommodate a full Hawks side, and saw a collection of Rebels and Marauders players take on the rec division leaders.
The setup worked well in yielding a closely matched game, with the Hawks taking a 1-0 decision.
An album of photos from the day’s action will soon be available at the VIFHA Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/GVmensFhockey

image

The scene is set for the last day of the Vancouver Island Field Hockey Association season, with the competitive division finalists confirmed and the rec teams anticipating their final jamboree of 2023-24.
Sunday’s St. Patrick’s Day action at the Lynn “Buzz” Beecroft turf at UVic saw the regular season champion Tigers roll to a 14-2 victory over the shorthanded Vikes, in the midday semifinal game.
The second semi, however, was up for grabs virtually to the final whistle, with the Victoria League Selects hanging on for a 3-2 win over Rebels 1 to nail down the second berth in next week’s championship final.
The Selects, blessed with three reserves for the game – Rebels had no spares – opened up a 2-0 lead early on goals by Brayden Chatlain and Sonny Kahlon, on a penalty corner conversion.
But the Rebels weren’t about to concede, and got one back midway through the second quarter with some determined goalmouth play by Ethan Picard.
The teams traded chances in the third quarter, but it was the Rebels who made it count, Bevan van de Berg adeptly tipping in an off-net blast from Gavin O’Halloran for the tying goal roughly 12 minutes in.
Rotating spares frequently to stay fresh, the Selects secured a penalty corner early in the fourth period after some intense pressure. Derrick Norton opportunistically put one past Rebels keeper Felix Randall as the play unfolded, giving Selects the lead for good.
The Rebels had a golden opportunity to strike back midway through the quarter, when two Selects were sent off with cards at the same time. But the Selects killed off the shorthanded situation with smart, steady defensive play and maintained that strategy to the end.
The previous game saw Tigers use a high-energy attack to build a sizeable lead early against the Vikes. Even when they shifted some players around to change the look and attempt to ease the onslaught, they still overpowered UVic, who played the contest with two less players.
Rec division goalkeeper Kelvin Kum, experiencing a rare callup to the competitive division, made a number of tough saves for Vikes along the way, but Tigers often had an extra man open in a dangerous spot.
Vadym Kirshe wasn’t necessarily one of them, as he more often dribbled his way into the D to gain a scoring chance and made good on six of those. Josh Brown and Parm Sahota added three goals each, while Javier Virk and Michael Brown had singles.
Vikes goals came from Thomas Davey and Chase Martin.
The final full-field rec division game was won 5-0 by Rebels 2 over a ragtag Marauders side featuring players from four different teams.
Chris Dahl was a terror for the Rebels in the circle, picking up three goals to lead his team. Ray Bailey and Anoop Medappa tallied singles while Owen Dahl, not tested a lot in the Rebels net, picked up the shutout.
The March 24 schedule opens with the rec division jamboree at 10:30 a.m., followed by the Vikes vs. Rebels 1 in the third-place game at noon, and the championship final between Tigers and Selects at 1:30 p.m.
Visit https://www.facebook.com/GVmensFhockey for photos of today’s competitive semifinals.

image

Two goals from Vadym Kirshe and a solid performance in goal by Tom Pennels and the rest of the Tigers defence carried the Vancouver Island Field Hockey Association competitive division leaders to a 3-1 win over Rebels on Sunday at Uvic’s Lynne “Buzz” Beecroft Field.
The victory left Tigers (10-5-0) six points clear of Rebels (7-5-3) in the race for the top of the standings. With just two regular season games left and Tigers owning a better head-to-head record against Rebels, four games to two, the win officially clinched the division title for the defending league champions.
The teams play one more game against each other, but even if Rebels win their last two outings and Tigers lose both, Tigers would win the tiebreaker.
Connor Brown tallied the other Tigers goal on Sunday, while Johnny Jacoby scored for Rebels, whose keeper Felix Randall helped keep the score close with a standout effort.
The only other game on the soggy day saw Rebels 2 hand Hawks their first defeat of the season with a 5-1 win in recreational division play.
The Rebels built a 3-0 lead by the end of two quarters, and held off a number of Hawks forays into the attacking zone in the second half with stifling defence and a brilliant performance from goalkeeper* Owen Dahl*.
Ray Bailey and pickup Tom Vincent each scored twice from the forward line to pace the attack, while Kevin Dahl added a single. Jesse Bains, ever present up front for Hawks, showed good second effort to beat a last defender in a goalmouth scramble and watched his shot trickle across the line for his team’s lone goal on the day.
Next weekend sees Hawks take on Marauders in the 10:30 a.m. rec game, followed by Rebels 1 vs. Victoria League Selects at noon and Tigers vs. UVic Vikes at 1:30 p.m.

image

Please fill out the below information to sign up as a volunteer coach for the 2024 Victoria Junior Field Hockey League (Boys and Girls) from April 13 to June 23, 2024. Please note that the information collected will be used to best place you with a team (age, gender, etc.) and other coaches to both meet your availability and preference as well as your experience level. We won’t be able to accommodate ALL requests.

Please sign up ASAP online here: https://forms.gle/ULyVG75R6Lvydn5fA

Full season schedules are listed here: http://victoriajuniorfieldhockey.ca/pages/6257
(older age groups on Sunday afternoon times may be TBD or flex)

Coach Certification requirements:
1) ALL: Making Headway
2) ALL: Making Ethical Decisions (MED)
3) ALL: Safe Sport
4) ALL: Fundamental Movement Skills (Feb. 25 or Mar. 3)
5) Head coaches + Asst Coaches: Coach Initiation in Sport
6) Head coaches: FHC Community Coach course

Coach education can start now: http://victoriajuniorfieldhockey.ca/clubs/393/pages/182500

If you have questions, please contact Ali Baggott at techdirector@victoriajuniorfieldhockey.ca or 250-418-5633.

Please fill out ONE online form PER volunteer.

image

The Tigers kept up their hot streak and kept pace with Rebels 1 on a grey day Sunday in Vancouver Island Field Hockey competitive division play at the University of Victoria.
Tigers (8-5-0) rolled past the Victoria League Selects 9-1 in the noon game, paced by a three-goal effort from Josh Brown. Teammates Rajiv Dillon and Javier Virk added a pair each while singles went to Parm Sahota and Vadym Kirshe.
TJ Parhar tallied the lone goal for the Selects (4-5-3).
The Rebels (7-4-3) followed up with an 8-2 handling of the UVic Vikes. The winners spread the scoring around, getting two goals each from Alex Moore, Sawyer Ross and Dale Kirk, and singles from Johnny Jacoby and Gavin O’Halloran.
Vikes goals came from Finley O’Callaghan and Grant Simpson.
With just four weeks remaining on the regular season schedule, and the possibility of a couple games being rescheduled, first place is very much in question. Rebels and Tigers are scheduled to play their next and last head-to-head contest Feb. 25.
Sunday’s opening game saw Chris Dahl thwarted in his bid for a hat trick for Rebels 2, but still lead his team’s attack in a 4-1 rec division win over Marauders. Dahl, who scored a nifty first goal early in the opening quarter and added another later on, suffered a mishit on a golden opportunity to notch his third in the second half .
With other goals coming from Dave Kerr and Ray Bailey, the output was more than enough to salt away the win.
Mr. Reliable Tom Vincent scored the lone goal for the Marauders, who managed a couple short corners in the second half. On one of those plays, an apparent goal by Soner Uzun was disallowed as his flick shot sailed too high into the net.
Next week sees the rec jamboree start at 10:30 a.m. followed by a rematch between Tigers and Selects at noon. Vikes and Rebels 1 have a bye for the Family Day weekend and UVic reading break.