Hockey
12 June, 2025
Successful return to hockey carnival
In their first appearance at the Victorian Hockey Country Championships in six years, two Wimmera hockey teams gave a good account of themselves at Bendigo over the weekend.
Hockey Victoria gave the tournament a new look this year, with a regional venue, Bendigo, hosting both the men’s and women’s divisions for the first time, previous competitions having been played across multiple locations (usually Geelong for the women and various grounds around Melbourne for the men).
Participants from all six local clubs made up the two local squads, along with several former Wimmera players now regularly competing elsewhere, and as is one of the highlights of a tournament like this when the hockey community from across the state comes together, there were even several former Wimmera players who lined up with opposing associations.
Facing some tough competition, the women’s team finished third with three wins, two losses and a draw, and the men came sixth after registering two draws and four losses from their six matches.
While neither team came home with a title, it was a great opportunity for senior Wimmera hockey players to gain experience at a higher level.
WOMEN:
The women’s team opened with a loss to Hockey Central Vic (Bendigo), who scored three times, but the Wimmera did get one on the scoreboard courtesy of Erin Alexander, and their second match was a win over Peninsula 2-1, with Alexander and Sarah Chittick scoring the goals.
On Sunday morning, they registered a win against East Gippsland, with Alexi Farmers scoring the only goal of the match.
Their final pool match was against the North West Lightning, with second place in pool B on the line.
This game ended in a win for the Wimmera, with Sarah Chittick scoring her second goal for the weekend.
This qualified them to play a semi-final against West Gippsland on Monday morning, which ended in a three-goal loss.
With this result, they progressed to the third-place play-off match, which finished in a 1-1 draw, Erin Alexander scoring her third goal for the weekend.
In the gold-medal match, West Gippsland and Bendigo also played out a 1-1 draw, with the Gippsland team crowned as the premier team after winning a shoot-out 2-1.
MEN:
The men’s squad started their weekend with drawn encounters with La Trobe Valley (0-0) and Geelong (1-1), with Ben Williamson scoring the goal in the second game.
Sunday morning opened with a narrow one-goal loss to North West Lightning, and their final pool match was a three-goal loss to East Gippsland.
This saw them finish this phase of the tournament in fourth place on the pool B ladder, which qualified them for cross-over matches against two teams that finished in similar positions on the pool A ladder.
These matches finished in a one-goal loss to Sunraysia and a loss to long-time rivals, North Central.
The premiers in this division were Goulburn Valley, who defeated Bendigo in the grand final.
WOMEN:
Pool matches: Wimmera 1 (E Alexander) lost to Hockey Central Vic 3; Wimmera 2 (E Alexander, S Chittick) defeated Peninsula 1; Wimmera 1 (A Farmers) defeated East Gippsland 0; Wimmera 1 (S Chittick) defeated North West Lightning 0
Semi-final: Wimmera 0 lost to West Gippsland 3
Third-place playoff: Wimmera 1 (E Alexander) drew with North Central 1
MEN:
Pool matches: Wimmera 0 drew with Latrobe Valley 0; Wimmera 1 (Ben Williamson) drew with Geelong 0; Wimmera 0 lost to North West Lightning 1; Wimmera 0 lost to East Gippsland 3
Cross-over matches: Wimmera 0 lost to Sunraysia 1; Wimmera 2 (S Bonnici, C Hassall) lost to North Central 4
– SIMON KING
