Boys’ Hockey: National Finals Day success

On Tuesday, 25 March, for the first time in King’s history, the school had two squads at the Independent School (IHSC) National Finals day at Nottingham Hockey Centre; it was a proud day for the first team and the U13s as both returned to Chester with medals.

With a 92% win record, the first team have enjoyed their best season ever. Following a draw in round one of the ISHC, they continued in the Plate competition, beating a number of strong teams to reach the semi-finals.

An entertaining semi-final match against Haileybury ended in a 6-1 victory, setting King’s up for a final against Bromsgrove.

King’s had beaten Bromsgrove earlier in the month but could not afford to rest on their laurels; an early 2-0 lead for King’s quickly changed as Bromsgrove fought back to take a 3-2 lead. However, a fourth King’s goal from Finn Leonard (L6WAL) gave King’s the win and the gold medals. 

The U13s had beaten Calday Grange, King’s Macclesfield and Blundells on their way to the semi-finals and were excited to play at the Nottingham Hockey Centre on the same day as the first team. 

Their semi-final match against Whitgift sadly ended in defeat for the U13 team but they picked themselves up for the bronze medal match, showing real character to beat Solihull 4-2 and claim the third place medals. 

Assistant Director of Hockey, Chris Ashcroft, accompanied the teams to Nottingham. 

He said: “This was a great day for King’s Hockey. We have taken another step forward and shown that the present and future of the game are in very good shape. 

“In addition to today’s successes, our U14s and U15s only narrowly missed out of reaching the national semi-finals, our U11s and U12s have both ended the season as regional champions, and the U16s still have their National Final at Olympic Park to look forward to next month. 

“All in all, there are very few gaps for our opponents to exploit as we look to build on this season’s success next year.”

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