As previously reported, our club u12 Boys team won the Cheshire and the NorthWest rounds of the EH In2Hockey Championships (scoring an incredible 49 goals along the way, whilst conceding only 3) and so won the right to compete at the National Finals – against the other 9 regional area winners.

So yesterday, Arlo Curran, Braeden Mackenzie, Conor Hartley, Gus Jones, Josh Hornby, Louis Hardstaff, Robbie Honeysett and Sammy Mason travelled to Nottingham – with club mascot
Cyril leading a host of supporters – for the clubs u12s In2Hockey National Finals.

The boys’ first game against Amersham & Chalfont was tough with first match nerves showing, but 2 great goals for Gus and Braeden brought a 2-2 draw. Next up was Repton, and the boys got into their stride with an impressive 5-0 win, with goals from Robbie, Josh, Sammy (2) and Gus. DRHC only needed to draw to top their pool and progress to the 1st/2nd playoff. However, it wasn’t to be, with ISCA winning 1-0. Ending third in their pool, the team played the 5th/6th playoff. Despite goals from Conor and Gus, after a long day for a squad of 8 players rather than 10, DRHC were pipped by Thirsk 4-2.

For all the ‘what ifs’ and ‘maybes’, it didn’t take long for the boys to remember their great achievement – competing at a National finals and being placed 6th in the entire country.
This awesome group of boys have trained hard, played their hearts out and we couldn’t be prouder of them.

Special thanks to Russ Hornby for coaching them so well in the build up to the tournament and to Rachel Jones for managing all the admin.

Whilst writing, we should also mention that some of our juniors have been attending National Finals in the last couple of weeks, as part of their school teams.

U14s Schools National Finals: DRHC members Aiden Coopman, Ben Pold, Hector Walsh, Jack Nash, Oscar Wallis, Rory Davis, Sammy Mason and Will Mason all played for the King’s School, Chester on 26 April at the Olympic Park, the school topping their pool and losing narrowly to Whitgift only in the closing minutes of the gold / silver medal match.

U13s Schools National Finals: DRHC members Aiden Coopman (again!), Ben Pold (again!) and Teddy Rothwell all played for the King’s School, Chester on 06 May, winning the bronze medal.

Well done to all the DRHC players who have competed in these competitions. They will all have fantastic memories of competing at the very highest level nationally and we’re very proud to have them at the Club. It all bodes well for the future!