FAVOURITES Venom and Thunders clinched the Division One and Two of the Dexion Ice Hockey League finals at Pyramid Ice Rink in Sunway on Saturday.
Both sides secured commanding wins in their respective divisions in the league competitions that began in January.
In the final playoffs for the challenge trophies, Venom fended off the early challenge from Wildcats to emerge as the Division One winners while Thunders came from a goal down against Warriors to lift the Division Two silverware.
Venom captain Alex Kam gave credit to Wildcats goalkeeper Adrian Chow for his sterling performance in between the posts to keep Wildcats in contention before the first interval.
“It was a very close match and the spectators enjoyed the encounter. Both sides tried to control the match with swift skating around the rink. We found it difficult to get past him (Chow). He was in exceptional form to produce good saves in the first period to deny our shots at goal,” he added.
After a successful play in the first 15 minutes, Wildcats’ defence finally gave way.
Venom broke the deadlock in the second period with hotshot forward Maikel Kuijpers hitting home in the 19th minute while Patrick Potvin added another a minute later.
“We came out stronger with our forwards putting pressure on them to create the chances in the second period. After that, we just went out to maintain the two-goal lead as we knew that they are younger side with plenty of aggression,” said Kam.
Despite having an inferior record and losing to Venom in all four meetings throughout the league, Wildcats captain Gary Tan said they still remained positive to claw back into match in the third and final period.
“We lost concentration in the second period. But, we did not give up and kept searching for the goal. We believe that we had more chances compared to them (Venom) and could not make it count,” Tan added.
Wildcats won the only consolation with Chow bagging the Division One Best Goalkeeper award.
In addition, Allan Yeoh and Moi Jia Yung of Wildcats were also recognised as the Best Forward and Best Defender respectively among the local players.
“We performed better than the previous league with players showing tremendous improvement. We played our best match in the final,” said Tan, adding that they qualified for the playoff edging the league second spot side Fangs with 6-3 victory in the semi-finals.
In the Divisions Two final, underdogs Warriors threatened to ruin Thunders’ celebration with a goal from Vincent Matthew Loh in the 21st minute.
Warriors advanced to the final with a 7-0 win over Vipers in the three teams competition for Division Two.
“We really fancied our chances of creating an upset after going ahead in the second period. Most players in the side have only combined for the first time in the final match. We are glad that our players were the recipients of the Best Defender (Mohd Faris Hakimin Yusoff) and Best Goalkeeper (Vincent Hsiao) awards in the Division Two,” said Warriors captain Adilah Junid.
Thunders captain Lau Hui Shi admitted their opponents troubled their defensive line to score a brilliant goal.
“We found the strategy to match their strength in the third period. We were optimistic that we were on our way to seal the victory after we levelled the score,” Lau added.
Four teams competed in the Division One competition and Serpents were the other team that crashed out in the semi-finals.
Following the final match, Dexion Asia managing director Frank Johnstone presented the prizes to the Division One winners.
Malaysian Ice Hockey Federation (MIHF) president Datuk Lee Hwa Beng said they hosted the league to create an avenue for the players to be active in the game.
“We will be organising the next league (Datuk Lee Hwa Beng challenge trophy) in August. We want to encourage them to stay competitive playing in two leagues in a season,” he added.
