Seven teams battled for the trophy after school in MGCI’s annual ball hockey tournament on 7-8 March in the gym.
Students formed teams with a minimum of five players. Many teams had more players as substitutes. Teams were also allowed a maximum of one teacher on the roster. It was mandatory for students to have their own appropriate protective equipment to play goalie. Most teams did not have proper equipment, and so, played without a goalie.
On the first day of the tournament, the teams competed in a round robin style, playing against each of the other six teams once. Each game lasted four minutes. The top four teams were determined based on the number of wins they attained in the first day. The teams that qualified for playoffs were: PFU, HvB, Aurthy’s, and TPK.
HvB and PFU prepare to score the next goal. Photo: Deifilia To.
The playoff round took place on 8 March. Playoff games were divided into two five-minute halves. The fourth-ranked team, PFU, played against the team with the most wins, HvB. Subsequently, TPK and Aurthy’s, the second and third-ranked teams played. After the first round of games, PFU played Aurthy’s for third place. Aurthy’s won 4-0, putting the PFUs in fourth place.
In a tight final game for first, HvB played TPK. By the end of the first half, HvB was leading 1-0. TPK scored in the last half, tying the score at 1-1. The two teams played in a five minute long overtime period which ended with a final score of 4-2 for HvB.
Julien Lin, a player for Team HvB, said that there were both benefits and downfalls to having a small tournament. While he would have enjoyed competing against more teams, having fewer teams allowed for individual teams to have enough space to play. Commenting on the overall flow of the event, he said, “I think the tournament overall was well organized—from the play to the organization.”
Mr. van Bemmel, a physics teacher at MGCI, organizes the tournament every year. Mr. Graham and Mr. Hillman also helped the tournament run smoothly by serving as referees.
