Tanner Cup Hockey Tournament

Whilst weather conditions were far from perfect, the rain did little to dampen the spirits of the U15A hockey team attending the 2022 Tanner Cup tournament in Hamilton during the last holidays. Held over four days, the team took four wins, two losses and two draws, to finish
respectably in 11th.
Right off of the bat, we had two crucial pool games against very strong teams. The fast footwork in the midfield from speedsters Sam Lawson (white shoes) and Dan O’Brien (pink shoes) allowed Max Braithwaite to bag a couple of goals, beating Tauranga Boys' 2-1. We were in
high spirits going in to face Kings College (the eventual tournament winners), but despite a strong performance across the whole team and goals to Cody Gradwell and Max, we went down 3-2. 

On day two, with Oscar Crowe providing quality structure in the midfield, we beat Cambridge 2-0, with Ollie Rongen getting on the scoresheet. Then followed a draw against a well-drilled St Paul's Collegiate side who had to contend with some big challenges from Bede O’Connell and Charlie Falconer on attack. Day three involved playing in atrocious conditions, which did not stop us from enjoying an 8-0 win against Christs, with excellent penalty corner goals to Connor Howes, Oscar and Fergus, with other goals coming from accurate feeds into the circle by Will Harrex. What followed was a well-matched game against Hamilton Boys that ended up 1-0 in their favour, which could have been more if it were not for the quality of our backline, notably the hyperfocus of Fergus Millar, the intelligent positioning of Cooper Ollerenshaw, the exceptional work rate of Sam Hancox, and the quality dribbling of Amos Miller, ably directed by Keeper Lachlan Macaulay. 

The final day of play started with a 5-1 win over Cambridge, with 2 goals in the first minute from Dan and Max. Ollie King showed his worth as Midfield General, boding well for next year’s team. Finally, we showed our sportsmanship, positive team culture and skill to draw 1-1 with STAC. The top goal scorers for the tournament were Max Braithwaite, Cody Gradwell and Dan O’Brien.

The tournament went off without a hitch, and we are grateful for the opportunity to have been able to play. We would like to thank the PFA for the funding, St Paul's Collegiate and Hamilton Boys' for the venues, Melissa for the coaching, managing, and logistics, Bonnie and Mike Harrex for managing us (and looking after us), the first XI for your support, and all our (noisy) supporters in Hamilton. Finally, a huge thank you to Sam Doran for coaching, we will be sorry to see you leave – team talks might be shorter from now on - but we wish you all the best overseas.