Tuks tops Varsity Hockey tournament log
After the first four matches in the 2018 Varsity Hockey tournament, Tuks's men's hockey team is still unbeaten.
Good but not good enough is how coach Guy Elliott describes the performance of the Tuks men’s hockey team after their first four games in the Varsity Tournament.
Tuks is topping the log with four victories in four games. Maties is the only other unbeaten team in the tournament. The two teams will clash on Saturday night on the Tuks Astroturf. The outcome could decide where the Varsity final will be played.
Elliott, however, does not even want to think that far ahead. During the last Varsity tournament he has learned as a coach that it is a mistake to take anything for granted as there is always that one unexpected result that changes everything. Any team is only as good as their last outing. Therefore, he is a firm believer in taking it game by game.
So far Tuks has beaten UJ 5-0, Northwest Pukke in a penalty shootout after the fulltime score was 4-4; Wits 6-5 and the Madibaz 6-1.
On Friday night Tuks will be playing the University of Cape Town which, judging by what has happened during the first four days of the tournament, is not going to be an easy game. The Capetonians is currently fourth on the log with two wins from four games.
Tuks’s last pool game on Sunday is against Kovsies. According to Elliott, they are a better team than the results would suggest.
“I suppose I can’t complain getting four victories from four games, but we still got a lot work to do if we want to kick on in this tournament. It is only going to get more and more difficult from now one,” said Elliot.
He is particularly dissatisfied with his team’s performance in the match against Wits.
“What was worrisome is seeing how we got wholly outplayed against Wits. The statistics are proving. They got 23 penalty corners while we only got one. The team pulled through due to brilliant play on the defence and pure tenacity. We just scored the winning goal during our power play in the dying minutes of the game,” the coach explained.
Elliott is never keen to single out a specific player’s performance as he is a firm believer in teamwork however he can’t help to be excited about Hendrik Kriek’s performance as the goalkeeper.
Kriek stood tall in spite of being bombarded with shot after shot at the goal, especially in the first match against UJ. He deservedly got the man of the match-award in that game.
Against Northwest Pukke, the game was decided by a penalty shootout. Kriek again kept his cool to ensure a Tuks victory.
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