Regional Round-up I 29 August 2022

From silver medals and Australian selections to red dirt and grand finals, there is plenty to get excited about across the regions in WA hockey!

The big news of August came when after a successful silver medal-winning Country Challenge with the WA Boyanup’s Brayden Dalton, of Bunbury Districts, and Norths star Chris Souchon, of Eastern Goldfields, earned selection in the Australian Country Senior Men’s Squad for 2022.

Matching the pair’s achievement was Lower Great Southern gun Laura Cinanni, who was selected in the Australian Country Senior Women’s Squad and Geraldton’s Lauren Newman who was picked for the Under-21s Women's side.

Both Cinanni and Newman were a part of the WA Country Women’s side which finished fifth at the Championships.

GOLDFIELDS-ESPERANCE

Esperance

Ladder-leaders Castletown made a statement to the rest of the competition in round 14 of the Esperance Hockey Association men's competition, winning 4-1 over Condingup in a potential grand final preview.

In the women’s, Emus have steadied after three-straight losses from round 9 to 11 to find themselves back in second place, while Bacchus remains the benchmark having lost just one game for the year.

Kalgoorlie

CBC and Norths are through to the Eastern Goldfields Hockey Association’s A1 Women and A1 Men grand finals in a fortnight after finishing on top of their respective ladders.

Meanwhile, in the juniors, the J3/8 and J9/12 Girls and Boys grand finals will take place over the weekend with the region’s best youngsters looking to get their hands on some silverware.

GREAT SOUTHERN

Lower Great Southern

The Lower Great Southern Hockey Association put on a show in early August when it hosted the highly successful 2022 Hockey Australia Country Challenge.

Teams from regional areas across the country headed to Albany for the tournament which garnered local, State-wide and national attention.

Fresh off the Championships, Spencer Park and Manypeaks played out one of the games of the season in the Men’s A division, with the ladder leading sides unable to be separated and the match ending in a 5-5 draw.

In the women’s competition, North Albany remains atop the ladder ahead of Spencer Park and Mount Barker, while Manypeaks trail in fourth.

MID WEST

Geraldton

Casuals and Cardinals have continued to dominate the Geraldton Hockey Association’s A-Grade competitions, remaining on top of the men’s and women’s leagues respectively.

In the men’s, reigning premiers Casuals are 23 points clear on top of the ladder with 14 wins from 14 matches and a ridiculous 62 goals scored and only six conceded.

Meanwhile, Cardinals are on top of the women’s ladder with 16 wins without a stumble and a mighty goal difference of 56.

PILBARA

Newman/Port Hedland/Tom Price

Hockey WA has joined Hockey Australia in the Pilbara to help share and grow the sport to the north of the State.

Hockey Australia travelled to schools in Tom Price last week and will head to Newman and Port Hedland this week to upskill and teach the youngsters of the region all about hockey.

SOUTH WEST

Bunbury/Busselton

Boyanup and Marist are through to the women’s and men’s South West Hockey League grand finals after both teams upset the minor premiers in the first final on the weekend.

In the women’s, Boynaup claimed a 1-0 victory over Associates to book themselves into the decider in a fortnight, with Associates now forced to go the long way.

In the men’s, Marist shocked the competition when they beat the reigning premiers and undefeated Boyanup 4-1.

Boynaup will now face 2021 runner-up Wests on the weekend to keep their season alive.

Busselton

More than 30 teams of youngsters from Year 1 to Year 6 headed to the Busselton Hockey Stadium for the Busselton Goldstix Carnival on Sunday to learn all about hockey in a fun-filled way.

The Carnival ran for three hours and allowed kids from across the area to learn about hockey in a fun, safe and inclusive way.

WHEATBELT

Narrogin/Northam/Bruce Rock

The CSBP Carnivals have returned for 2022 with famous faces travelling across the state to coach youngsters in five regional hubs.

The Carnivals have already been a hit in Narrogin, Geraldton and Bruce Rock in the last three months with the next stops being Northam and Albany on September 9.

The fun-filled day of hockey’s next two dates will be even more exciting with WA young gun Brodee Foster attending the Northam carnival, and local hero and Commonwealth Games silver medallist Penny Squibb featuring at the Albany event.