JAMAICA’S ice hockey team emerged victorious in the final match of the Challenger Series after beating a very strong Lebanon team 12-8 at College Ice Arena in Toronto on July 13.

In a pulsating match played before hundreds of cheering supporters, Jamaica took the early lead in the first of three 20-minute periods but fell behind after Lebanon scored three unanswered goals over the next 15 minutes of the first period.

During the second period Jamaica regrouped and fought back to take a 5-3, then a 6-4 lead, only to see Lebanon claw back to level the scores at 6-6.

Buoyed by the enthusiastic support from the massive crowd Jamaica pressed hard towards the end of the second period and scored three more goals to end the period on 9-6.

With victory in sight at the start of the third and final period the team was relentless in piling on the pressure on the Lebanese team for an 11-7 lead, with four minutes left in the game.

Tight defensive work then ensured that Jamaica did not surrender the lead again and, against the run of play, actually scored a 12th goal to make it 12-7. This effectively sealed the victory for a highly motivated team comprising players who proved their passion throughout the encounter. Lebanon scored a consolation eighth goal as the match ended 12-8 in Jamaica’s favour.

Ten different payers scored for Jamaica in the match, with Reggie Millette and Givani Smith each getting two goals and Maleek McGowan, Captain Taos Jordan, Amari Sellers, Tyler Drummond, Dante Sheriff, Avery Grant, Josh Mitton and Marquis Grant-Mentis one each.

The Challenger Series is a new tournament involving Puerto Rico, Lebanon and Jamaica, who are all associate members of International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF).

The Challenger Series began in Chicago in April, continued in New York in June, and culminated in Toronto a week ago. At the end of the second leg in New York, Jamaica was on top of the competition and earned the automatic right to the final by virtue of their accumulation of points over the first two legs. Puerto Rico and Lebanon had to engage in a play-off on Friday to decide the other finalist. In that match, Lebanon defeated Puerto Rico 9-3.

Across the three legs the Jamaica team won six of the nine matches played and now has an overall tally of 22 matches since it started to play competitively in 2019, resulting in 16 wins and only six losses and scoring over 100 goals in the process.

Team Jamaica was well supported over the three sets of matches by a number of sponsors, including Mayberry Investments; JN Money; Natural Fountain Juices (New York); Jerkin Chicken (New York); Team Bickle Jamaica (New York); Jamaica Tourist Board (Miami); Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport Jamaica Mid-West Association (Chicago); Caribbean Queen Jerk Drum (Toronto) as well as individual sponsors.

According to Don Anderson, president of Jamaica Olympic Ice Hockey Federation (JOIHF), the federation is now setting its sights on establishing an ice rink in Jamaica, as well as building a strong local programme which will facilitate the team playing in qualifying tournaments for the Olympics. He further stated that expert opinion is that this team could be highly ranked globally if it had the opportunity to play at the next level amongst countries with ice rinks.