Three teams representing the Wimmera Hockey Association travelled to Melbourne on the weekend to participate in the Victorian Junior Country Championships, and although they did not enjoy much success on the scoreboard, they gained a wealth of experience from competing against the top underage players from country Victoria.
The local teams played in the Under 15 Boys division at the Greensborough Hockey Centre in Melbourne’s north, and the Under 18 Boys and Girls teams enjoyed the facilities at the home of the sport in Victoria, the State Netball Hockey Centre in Parkville.
This year the top age group was raised from Under 17 to Under 18, to align with the age groups for the Junior State Championships, which allowed some players to participate for another year.
Under 18 Boys
The Under 18 Boys competition involved seven teams playing in a round robin format comprising teams from Ballarat, Goulburn Valley, Albury-Wodonga, North Central, East Gippsland and Bendigo, playing under the name Hockey Central Victoria.
The local team did not register a victory over their six games, with their best performances coming against East Gippsland (0-1) and neighbouring association, North Central (0-2).
Albury-Wodonga and Goulburn Valley played off in the final with the latter team winning by 5 goals to 4.
Ballarat 3 defeated Wimmera 0
Goulburn Valley 3 defeated Wimmera 0
Albury-Wodonga 4 defeated Wimmera 0
North Central 2 defeated Wimmera 0
East Gippsland 1 defeated Wimmera 0
Hockey Central Victoria 8 defeated Wimmera 0
Under 18 Girls
Eight teams entered the Under 18 girls division and they were split into two pools, with the Wimmera joining Sunraysia, Goulburn Valley and North Central in Pool A. Their best result was a close one goal loss to North Central.
Based on their first three results, both the Wimmera and North Central were then placed in Pool D for the for the next round of games where they were joined by Hockey Central Victoria and Ballarat.
Once again the best result was a repeat of their Pool A clash with North Central.
Above - The Wimmera Under 18 Girls taking on Central Victoria at the State Netball Hockey Centre.
East Gippsland won this division when they scored two goals in the final to defeat Albury-Wodonga who could only score one.
Pool A Matches
Sunraysia 2 defeated Wimmera 0
Goulburn Valley 4 defeated Wimmera 0
North Central 1 defeated Wimmera 0
Pool D Matches
North Central 1 defeated Wimmera 0
Hockey Central Victoria 3 defeated Wimmera 0
Hockey Ballarat 3 defeated Wimmera 0
Under 15 Boys
The under 15 Boys competition involved ten teams split into two pools, and the Wimmera was dawn in Pool B with Geelong, Glenelg, Goulburn Valley and Hockey Central Victoria.
They started their weekend with a couple of close games, going down to Geelong by three goals and Glenelg by only two before they suffered a couple of bigger losses to finish their pool games.
This qualified them for the ninth place play-off game against the team which finished in fifth place in Pool A, Sunraysia, and that game finished in a very close one goal loss for the Wimmera team.
The final in this division was won by Albury-Wodonga by three goals to two over Ballarat.
Pool B Matches
Geelong 3 defeated Wimmera 0
Glenelg 2 defeated Wimmera 0
Goulburn Valley 8 defeated Wimmera 0
Hockey Central Victoria 6 defeated Wimmera 0
Ninth Place Playoff Game
Sunraysia 1 defeated Wimmera 0
Local hockey will resume next Saturday when the games of round four will be at both Kaniva and Yanac, and the next opportunity for local players to play representative hockey will be at the Senior Country Championships over the long weekend in June and the Junior State Championships in July.
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