By Jonty Ralphsmith
It has been an up, then down, and now up again year for the Casey Cannons men’s hockey side.
After winning nine of its first 10 matches – with the other result being a draw – the Cannons finished the season with a whimper, giving up top-spot on the ladder.
Importantly, though, Samantha Dobrich’s men gave themselves a platform in the final round of the home and away season, winning 3-0 over Monash.
Then in the first final, they beat top-placed Mornington 4-2 to stamp their premiership credentials.
“It was a bit of a sense of relief around the group,” Dobrich said of the win.
Casey got out to a 3-0 lead as it dominated play in the first half, before having to withstand a last-quarter charge from Mornington, which got within a goal before Casey pulled away.
A grand final appearance is an outstanding result for the Cannons, competing in Vic League 1 (VL1) for the first time with this squad, having received a promotion from VL2 last season.
The promotion allowed a sense of freedom and calm: the newness brought with it a lack of expectation, which the team thrived on.
Having league leading goal scorer Bryan Young in attack also gave the squad confidence to play free-flowing hockey and back themselves.
“We’ve always been able to play attacking hockey and have a decent structure put in place so when we’re defending, we can lull the other team in to turning the ball over and us counterattacking,” Dobrich said.
It was when the wins started racking up and Casey became the hunted team, and envy of the competition, that the season begun disintegrating as fundamentals came unstuck.
They went from having no pressure to feeling all of the pressure.
In a seven-game stretch late in the season, they recorded four losses and a draw, having conceded just 12 goals in its first 10 games up to that point.
“On the field we have a lot of really good hockey minds out there, I think it was just learning how to settle ourselves, how to calm ourselves down and recognise points of play during a game,” said Dobrich of the mindset shift the team undertook.
“We really focused on winning moments rather than winning matches and concentrating on particular points in a game – when to attack, when to stay defensive and play calm, structured hockey.
“We started to pull that together in the win against Mornington and winning moments was the way we were able to win that game.
“We didn’t know the teams we were coming up against so we went in with an open mind and played hockey, and then getting to halfway through the season and being undefeated, you get to the second half and there is a sense of accomplishment: we beat them last time, we’ll beat them again.
“There was a lot of work being done on recognising that is not the case and you still have to prepare to every game – we’re not undefeatable.”
With a steady lineup, there is optimism ahead of the grand final on Sunday at the State Hockey Centre at 4pm.
Tristan Chaffey’s experience in premier league, and the continuity of Matthew Light, Craig Moore David Noney and Cam Ritchie, and the improving Nick McPhee will all be crucial.
“You can really see the guys that have played around the club for a long time, they can read each other on the field and off the field everyone is very close.
“I am expecting really good structured hockey,” Dobrich said.
“We have superstars but everyone is very similar, there are no real weak points so across the board, we will go out and play as a team, which is what we demonstrated against Mornington.”
