TUNKU Mahkota Ismail Sports School (SSTMI) Thunderbolts will renew their love vow with hockey when they play for their fifth consecutive Junior Hockey League title on Valentines Day.
The School, formerly known as Bandar Penawar Sports School, found the right tonic to success when they tied the knot with sponsors Tenaga Nasional.
Thunderbolts, unbeaten after five matches by scoring a whopping 30 goals in Division One, are expected to have an easy time against Kuala Lumpur Hockey Club (KLHC) who only have one win to show after four matches.
“We are fortunate that we have an ally in Tenaga Nasional and that helped us a lot in monetary as well as technical aspects of the game. We are grateful to them and it is a collective effort that has seen the school become strong in the sport,” said coach Wan Roslan Wan Rahman.
The match against KLHC will be a mere formality to complete the fixtures: “My players knew from the start of the season that we must beat UniKL (Young Guns) to retain our title and they gave their all in the 4-1 win.”
For UniKL it is back to the drawing board after their humiliating defeat.
Coach Rodhanizam Radzi had some of the most talented juniors in the country at his disposal but their inability to c convert penalty corners saw their downfall.
“We lost to a better team and that we have to accept. We will now try to win the runner up spot and focus on the knockout stages but we need the players to start believing in their ability first,” said Rodhanizam.
The battle for spots into the play-offs from the three Division Two tiers has also turned out to be an interesting affair.
For, only Nur Insafi from Penang have assured themselves of a place in the six team playoff for the four spots in the quarter-final of the knock out stage.
The two top teams in each of the Division Two groups will play in a playoff stage to determine which four move into the quarters.
Olak-PKT are expected to move into the playoff despite going down to their first defeat, 2-1 to MSP Juniors in Kuantan.
“It was on those days where everything went wrong for us,” said Olak team manager Joseph de Silva.
“We deserved to lose as we lost our focus and the defeat is a timely wake up call for us.”
DIVISION ONE
P W D L F A Pts
TH’BOLTS 5 5 0 0 30 4 15
PJCC 5 4 0 1 11 10 12
UNIKL 4 3 0 1 14 4 9
MHS 6 1 2 3 7 18 5
KLHC 4 1 1 2 6 7 4
ANDERSON 5 0 2 3 4 14 2
SSTMI JNRS 5 0 1 4 3 18 1
DIVISION TWO A
P W D L F A Pts
NUR INSAFI 7 7 0 0 23 6 21
BAKAT 5 4 0 1 13 7 12
SYED HASSAN 5 3 1 1 14 5 10
MSSPP-USM 6 2 1 3 12 12 7
MATRI PERLIS 5 1 2 2 6 7 5
STAR 6 1 1 4 6 21 4
1MAS PENANG 5 0 2 3 4 10 2
PHKS 5 0 1 4 3 13 1
DIVISION TWO B
P W D L F A Pts
PAHANG JRS 7 5 2 0 25 7 17
OLAK-PKT 6 5 0 1 27 6 15
PDG MIDIN 5 4 0 1 27 6 12
FELDA TEMERLOH 5 2 1 2 19 9 7
KLSS JRS 7 2 0 5 15 23 6
LARUT MATANG 5 1 2 2 13 15 5
1MAS PERAK 5 1 1 3 9 11 4
PERMATANG JRS 6 0 0 6 5 64 0
DIVISION TWO C
P W D L F A Pts
POLITEKNIK 4 4 0 0 23 3 12
BJSS 5 4 0 1 18 7 12
BENTARA LUAR 4 3 0 1 17 6 9
SMKTB 5 2 1 2 9 14 7
SMKDMT 5 1 1 3 6 15 4
BJSS JRS 5 0 1 4 5 17 1
PHDK 4 0 1 3 4 20 1