ST ANDREW Phoenix and St Andrew Strikers were crowned men’s and women’s champions of the Jamaica Hockey Federation (JHF) Top Four Knockout competition at the Mona Hockey Field recently.

St Andrew Phoenix won the men’s section courtesy of a 1-0 win over Sharpe’s Rebels through a 50th-minute goal from Fabian DePass, while the Strikers, in the women’s section enjoyed a goal fest as they romped to a 10-2 demolition of Sharpe’s Rebels.

The Strikers, who had won the women’s league competition were winning their second title of their impressive unbeaten season.

Kamille Griffiths was the main destroyer for the Strikers, scoring four goals against in the 17th, 27th, 38th and 57th minutes.

The other scorers were, Karen Wilson (18th and 30th), Karene Hudson (8th and 28th), Nicole Bradshaw (43rd) and Demi Nicholson (50th). Juliet Ximines (11th) and Jenjel Alexander (15th) were the scorers for the Rebels.

The tournament was contested by the top four finishers of the men’s and women’s National Hockey League, and was played in a round-robin format.

In the preliminary rounds of the men’s knockout competition, Sharpe’s defeated University of the West Indies (UWI) 3-1; Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) also tagged UWI 3-1, while the Phoenix stopped JDF 2-1.

The women’s preliminary knockout rounds saw the Strikers blanking Excelsior 3-0; Sharpe’s tagged Tropics by a similar scoreline, so too did Excelsior over the latter.

It is interesting to note that the results by the Phoenix in this knockout competition took on added significance as they denied JDF, who won the National League, the double.

JDF won the League with 32 points, ahead of UWI Pelicans (29 points), Sharpe’s Rebels (28 points), with Phoenix in fourth on 23 points.

Meanwhile, The Strikers captured the women’s title with maximum 24 points, ahead of Tropics (18 points), the Rebels (12 points) and Excelsior on four points.

— Gerald Reid