Northland Sec complete double

SINGAPORE — It has been almost a decade since Northland Secondary School could rightly claim to have both the best boys’ hockey and floorball teams at “B” Division — or under-16 — level.

That barren run finally ended yesterday, when they overcame St Gabriel’s Secondary School to lift the National Schools “B” Division Boys’ Floorball Championship trophy at the Yio Chu Kang Sports Hall and complete their first double since 2004 after clinching the “B” Division Boys’ hockey crown last Friday.

But they needed a winner from former national Under-16 floorball player, Kendy Lee, to finally see off the gutsy Gabrielites 1-0 in a sudden-death penalty shootout after the match finished 9-9.

Northland coach Shahril Ismail, himself a former student and part of the sides which won the double hockey and floorball titles from 1996 to 1999, believes luck was on their side this time.

“It was luck, and we threw it away in the third period on game discipline. The game plan was to score as many in the first period, contain in the second and score more in the third,” he told TODAY.

Northland assistant coach Ashari Salleh added: “It was two periods of good games, but we nearly threw it away in the first half.

“In the third period, the players were too tired and could not focus on defending.”

Shahril may have been correct in his assessment that fortune played a huge part in Northland’s win.

The team appeared to be cruising to the title with a commanding 9-3 lead by the end of the second 20-minute period. However, spurred on by about 80-odd of their school-mates, who were among the estimated 200-strong crowd at the Yio Chu Kang Sports Hall, St Gabriel’s staged a spirited rally in the third period against a shell-shocked Northland side, who let themselves down with sloppy passing and poor possession play.

St Gabriel’s captain Jeremy Chia’s equaliser just a second before the buzzer sounded was too much to bear for Northland captain Keiji Watanabe, who slammed his floorball stick into the ground in disgust.

But a quick word from Shahril subsequently helped to calm the rattled Northland players. Kendy’s penalty then sealed the win after St Gabriel’s missed all three of their shots in the sudden-death shootout.

Shahril said: “Hopefully, this win resumes the school’s tradition of winning doubles.”

This was St Gabriel’s first appearance in the “B” Division final.

Gabrielite captain Jeremy was in tears after the game. “It was disappointing to miss the championship cup just by an inch, but I am proud of my team and their fighting spirit during the last period. I still have one more year, to train harder and come back better next year,” said the 16-year-old.

However, their coach Emily Koh believes her players did not let their school down. “All my players are winners, they got themselves into the finals and they should be proud,” said the former national player. “It is just a game and it is all for fun, but I wanted to see that they gave 100 per cent and they did.”