The first Hockey NSW State Championships held since COVID have wrapped up at Central Coast.

It is the 1st State Championships that CCHA have hosted since the $1.8M facility upgrade completed last year and Assoc President Brett Johnson hopes that there are plenty more major events to come. Brett said "It was a fantastic tournament held in clear sunny skies given the flood events that happened the weekend before. Our volunteers were amazing in the lead up to the event and over the weekend everybody chipped in with canteen, bar and BBQ and Tech officials to ensure the vent ran smoothly. It was a good test run for the Academy Games carnival we are hosting in 3 weeks and then for the Australian Masters championships in late September which will see over 80 teams competing on the Coast over 10 days".

 On the field, the 34 Div A team came away with the win in their division. One loss to Newcastle on day 1 was their only blemish over the entire weekend. Coach Liam Alexander was impressed with the overall performance of the squad "It was a great effort by the boys over the weekend, especially Mark "Sheepy" Drennan, Dan Kent and Adro Washington who were late inclusions in the team to help cover some of the other lads due to work committments. Our midfield of Hugh Wickert, Lee Cormack and Stu Fletcher with their experience just controlled the games for us. Brett Giffin was always dangerous in the circle and converted plenty of chances over the weekend. Overall I was really impressed with how the team went over the weekend and it's always good to get a win in a final over Newcastle". 

The final was a local derby with most players still competing against each other in the Hunter Coast Premier League. CCHA got out to an early 2-0 goal lead before Newcastle successfuly converted a penalty stroke to get back to 2-1. CCHA scored late again to extend the lead to 3-1 and finish out the game.      

34A Division results

3-2 win vs Metro South West

0-2 loss vs Newcastle

4-0 win vs Sydney 

2-1 win vs Lithgow

SF - 5-0 win vs Lithgow

GF 3-1 win vs Newcastle

The 34 B Division team were undeafeted after their round games and went into their semi final against Newcastle full of confidence.  A close fought encounter that for the most part was 1-1 until Central Coast scored with about 5 mins remaining in the game. Coming into the last few seconds Newcastle were awarded a penalty corner which they converted on the full time siren to send the game into a penalty shootout. Newcastle were eventual winners 6-4 sending them into the Grand Final. 

34 B Division results

3-2 win vs Bathurst 

4-0 win vs Metro South West 2 

5-1 win vs Manning Valley   

SF 4-6 loss vs Newcastle

Over 34 State Selection to compete at Nationals in September/October

Lee Cormack, Cody Tribe, Hugh Wickert, Brett Giffin, Dougal