The game ended in a 2-0 win, with one team prevailing over another.
But in true fact, the season completed with four teams winning – in that those who came to play and restart a once-strong league have established a foothold for others to follow.
The Moscrop Panthers will proudly display the Burnaby-New West senior girls field hockey banner, after blanking the New Westminster Hyacks 2-0 on Thursday.
It crowned a season where four schools formed teams to re-animate programs dormant since the 2014 teacher labour dispute. All the participants this year have things to be proud of, remarked Moscrop volunteer coach and Class of 2016 grad Sade Alexis.
“I’m really proud of them … Burnaby field hockey in high school has kind of fallen apart in the last couple of years. Last year it didn’t exist, the year before because of the strike it didn’t happen. The last time it (existed) was when I was in Grade 10.”
On a strong second half, the Panthers proved too much to handle thanks to goals from Nicole Morneau and Simran Bains, while the Hyacks were held scoreless by a solid Moscrop defence and netminder Maria Preoteasa.
Joining Morneau on the all-star team was teammate Mireta Strandberg-Salmon.
“In the first half I don’t think (Moscrop girls) were as hungry, they expected to win,” said Alexis. “They didn’t know they had to try so hard, so in the second half it was really up to them to put the effort in, (as) I couldn’t coach because I was the umpire.”
It took a few field hockey veterans to grab the mantle and put things in order.
Morneau scored what stood as the game winner with a hard blast from inside the shooting circle early in the second half.
A field hockey veteran in the Burnaby Lakers club, Morneau said the high school team bonded well despite a big gap in playing experience. By last week’s final, even she was feeling some nerves.
“I woke up in the morning all excited, just thought about it all day wanting to play, wanting to win,” said Morneau. “We were just excited to play the game. It means a lot, because there hasn’t been field hockey for the past few years so it feels good to win it.”
Alexis said while a lot of players in the league had some experience in the sport, having newcomers come out in good numbers – both New West and Moscrop boasted lineups of 20-plus players – was a pleasant surprise.
“I’ve played a lot of field hockey at a lot of different levels so I know what potential looks like. I’ve never coached this age before so it was different – I normally coach little kids. It was interesting to see that, I’d tell them something and they’d automatically learn it really fast,” she said.
Next year, the aim will be to add more Burnaby schools to the league, and challenging for a spot at the provincials.
