As an affiliated member of the Victorian Olympic Council, Hockey Victoria recently nominated David Wansbrough as a Member of the Executive.

Congratulations to David on his successful election to the Executive at the Victorian Olympic Council’s Annual General Meeting which was held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground last night.

“David Wansbrough’s inclusion to the Executive of the Victorian Olympic Council is a great acknowledgment of the on-going positive contribution that he has made to the Victorian Olympic Council as a Committee Member of the Olympians Club of Victoria”, said Hockey Victoria’s CEO Ben Hartung. “His financial business experience will be invaluable to the Council and it is great to have a hockey legend represented on the Council”.

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The Victorian U21 Women have made it into the finals at the nationals – lining up today at 1pm for the semi. The girls will be facing off against Tasmania who they were beaten by 1-0 in a surprise result in round one of the tournament. We’re sure the Vics will be out for revenge and we wish them the best of luck from everyone at the Hockey Show.

To follow the action simply check out their website by clicking here.

It was with a great sense of shock that we recently heard of Michael “Mouse” Brennan’s diagnosis with Lymphoma. We understand Mouse has had numerous tests already that have detected the cancer, but Mouse is about to undergo a series of further tests to determine the severity of the diagnosis.

Many Victorian’s will know Mouse, as he played a number of seasons with the Essendon Hockey Club, in which he helped lead them to two premierships. Before his triumphant return to the Kookaburra’s where he went on to win a Gold Medal at the Athens Olympics. Many Melbournians commented at the time that no single player in the history of Victorian Hockey had made such a definitive impact on the entire State League One competition…much less a Queenslander! In short: he was bloody awesome.

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Interview with Greg Drake, Coach of the Victorian u21 women’s team playing in the Australian Championships in Sydney from 14th to 25th April 2009

Bartos: So how do you think you’ll go at the tournament?
Greg: I think we’ll go very well. We have an exceptionally talented and even squad. Even without Georgia Nanscawen and Danielle Schubach who are both last minute withdrawals due to their selection in the Hockeyroos, I think we have the right framework in place and the right players to really do well.

Bartos: So last year you came 6th, what separates this team from last year?
Greg: This year we have a website www.vicu21hockey.com where people can view video highlights of games and interact with team members throughout the tournament. This makes us a much better team. Also, the players have trained long and hard since October last year to get themselves right for this. A standard preparation for this tournament is about 10 weeks. We have been preparing for 24 weeks. The players are fit and well prepared.

Bartos: So you have a website huh?
Greg: Yep, did I mention that? I’m hoping that people will really get behind the team while we are away with messages of support and by interacting with the players throughout the tournament.

Bartos: So who are your major threats?
Greg: They are all threats…. But I think WA and QLD will be the teams to beat as they will both be at full u21 strength. We were the only team to defeat WA on their way to winning the tournament last year and QLD scored against is in the last few minutes to defeat us 1-0. This year we are certainly aiming to beat both, and everyone else.

So make sure you hit up the girls website and leave them a word or two of encouragement!

www.vicu21hockey.com

This weekend sees the finals of the AHL in Melbourne at the State Hockey Centre with the first matches starting at 9am on Saturday morning and a total of eight finals being played across the weekend.

For all the details hit the Hockey Victoria website – click here.

But before that the final round games are also underway today (Thursday) so make sure if you have the chance to get down to the State Hockey Centre and not only catch some fantastic women’s hockey but also take the opportunity to have a first hand look at the way the new rules are being enforced.

Today’s (Thursday 2nd April) schedule is;

2:00 PM
Smokefree WA Diamonds vs NSW Arrows

4:00 PM
Canberra Labor Club Strikers vs South Australia Southern Suns

6:00 PM
NT Pearls vs Wrest Point Van Demons

8:00 PM
OAMPS Queensland Scorchers vs Victorian Vipers