The JHL made its debut in 1995, after a joint-effort by the National Sports Council (Datuk Mazlan Ahmad), Nestle (Datuk Dina Rizal) and the now defunct Malaysian Hockey Federation (the late S. Satgunam) came up with the initiative to have a league for the juniors.
THE MHC-Milo-NSC Junior Hockey League (JHL) starts today with double champions Tengku Mahkota Ismail Sports School playing what could be termed as a warm-up against their sister side SSTMI Juniors.
It was not by chance that the two are meeting first, as the Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) had bowed to team managers pressure to avoid what could be a goal-scored fix if the two teams played at the tail end of the JHL.
It is also no secret that in Divison One, the battle for titles would be among three teams namely SSTMI, double runners-up UniKL Young Guns and Bukit Jalil Sports School.
The other five; MSSSPP-USM, MBI-Anderson, Petaling Jaya CC, SSTMI Ju niors and newly promoted Malacca High School; would play the spoilers role when given the opportunity.
In Division Two, there are two groups with Group A having nine teams and they are Anderson Juniors, MSSS Kelantan, 1Mas Penang, Matri, SM Sains Tun Azlan Shah, Kedah HA Juniors, MSSS Perlis, Nur Insafi and Sekolah Tuanku Abdul Rahman Ipoh.
Group B will have Tunku Besar Secondary School, SMK Datuk Taha Gemencheh, Olak-PKT, SMK Padang Midin, MSSS Johor, Politeknik KPT, Kuala Langat, BJSS Juniors, KL Sports School and Tunas Muda Pahang.
SSTMI won the double by a whisker on both occasions as they edged UniKL by one goal difference after being tied on 22 points for the League title.
And in the Overall title final, SSTMI could only edge UniKL 2-1.
"After failing to land any title last season, UniKL Young Guns will continue to pursue its dream to win the Double this season. However, to achieve our target, we must beat SSTMI as they are again the clear favorites with their golden boy and top scorer of JHL 2012, Shahril Saabah still eligible to play alongside their very experienced supporting cast," said UniKL team manager Faiz Isa, who has been promoted from his assistant role last season.
Former team manager Amir Azhar is now the interim president of UniKL Hockey Club.
And to achieve their goal: "We need to overcome the penalty corner woes of last season and also continue our strength in getting goals from open play."
UniKL, into their fourth season, believe in developing players and that is why they have selected a young side with 16 out of the 22 still available for the next season.
"This is the youngest Young Guns ever assembled with an average age of 17.8. Only six re 19 years old (the cap for JHL), while 16 are eligible for next season. The youngest are 15-years-old Kavinash Panicker and 16-years-old Shahriful Aqmal.
The JHL made its debut in 1995, after a joint-effort by the National Sports Council (Datuk Mazlan Ahmad), Nestle (Datuk Dina Rizal) and the now defunct Malaysian Hockey Federation (the late S. Satgunam) came up with the initiative to have a league for the juniors.
And its growth has been phenomenal with many national players being scouted from the JHL who went on to play for the country and became household names.
Just to mention a few...Chua Boon Huat, Nor Azlan Bakar, Logan Raj, Keevan Raj, Jiwa Mohan, Jivan Mohan, Rodhanizam Radzi, Razak Saidin, Amin Rahim, Roslan Jamaluddin and Madzli Ikmar.
And this year, a record 27 teams will see 594 players trying to impress the age-group scouts.
