The TuksHockey Men have had long three year journey to Gold. The team was relegated to the B section in 2013. In 2014 they won the B section and regained their position the A section and finally now in 2015 have returned to glory winning Gold in the USSA Hockey Men’s A Section.

The team had a great week leading up to the semi-finals and finished top of their pool. Player-coach Francois Pretorius said the team was focusing on one day/match at a time and were not getting ahead of themselves. The semi-final was contested against Kovsies who were outclassed 8 -0 by a focused and clinical Tuks outfit. Goals were scored by Tim Guise-Brown (4), Grant Glutz (3) and Tim Halle (1).

The final was played against NMMU. The match started out fairly slowly and evenly matched with a 0-0 score at half time. The Tuks men had missed some chances but were still looking good. The deadlock was broken by Richard Pautz early in the second half after a great display of skill. The score remained 1-0 until the 4^th and final chukka when Pautz again found the back of the net. NMMU were unable to rattle the Tuks men much who remained solid and composed throughout the game. With just two minutes left on the clock, Captain Andrew Buckley had a great run up the right of the field resulting in the third and final goal of the match to be scored by Pautz, securing a 3-0 victory and his hat-trick. Pautz was awarded the player of the match as well as the player of the tournament during the medal ceremony.

The TuksHockey Women finished in 5th position for the second year in a row at the USSA Hockey Tournament. Coach Inky Zondi said “it is fantastic for hockey that this tournament is getting more competitive each year. We are delighted to have exposed 8 players to this tournament for the first time. The team is a young and inexperienced team, but what we have have lacked in experience we certainly made up for in sheer commitment and dedication to giving of our best for the University of Pretoria. Stand out performance for the week came from Amy Etherington and Charné Hill. Amy is a SA u21 squad member and is attending a Junior National Camp this week in Durban. Charné is a first year student who joined the TuksHockey Club when she was a school girl; she has worked her way up the teams and now as a University of Pretoria student has earned her place in the 1^st team.”

Photo Credit: Sean Burke