The Victorian Vikings have won the Australian Hockey League for the first time since 1998 with a 5 – 3 win over the WA Thundersticks.
It was a strong start in the men’s gold medal match of the AHL with Victoria awarded a penalty corner in the opening minutes. Chris Ciriello came through with the goods using his powerful drag flick to give Victoria the advantage.
Home side the WA Thundersticks were not to be taken advantage of and only a minute later, Tim Geers scored a field goal for WA.
WA captain Chris Bausor knocked in a penalty corner giving WA the lead after 13 minutes, quickly followed by another Victorian equaliser at minute 15 from Ciriello.
James Knee followed up with a field goal for Victoria ten minutes into the second quarter, seeing the Victorians going into half time with a 3 – 2 lead over the home team.
Both teams came out of the half time break with a mission, and only a few minutes in, Victoria
extended their lead to 4 – 2 courtesy of a field goal from Kiran Arunsalam.
The remainder of the third quarter was fast paced, with both teams gaining a number of chances at goal, however Arunsalam’s remained the sole goal of the term leaving the score going into the final quarter at 4 – 2 in Victoria’s favour.
With seven minutes to go, WA were awarded a penalty stroke, with captain Chris Bausor taking the shot and slamming the ball past goalkeeper Johan Durst.
Andrew Philpott came back for Victoria, sneaking a field goal in past WA goalkeeper Tyler Lovell and taking the score to VIC 5 – 3 WA with minutes to go.
Vikings captain Russell Ford said: “It’s been a long time since our last win. We’ve had a lot of disappointment, a lot of semi-final losses, a loss in the final and it’s been the majority of this group with the addition of a few young guys who have come in so it means a lot.”
Congratulations also to VIS athlete Chris Ciriello for winning Player of the Grand Final.
