THE Junior Hockey League (JHL) season is almost at its midway point, but teams or individual players have yet to show any promise in both the divisions.
Initially a record 36 teams registered for the tournament which was incepted in 1995, but Larut Matang and Selama withdrew three days from the start.
The remaining 35, 10 in Division One and 25 in Division Two, have dished out a paltry dish and there seem to be no above average talent who shone above the rest.
In Division One, four-time consecutive double champions SSTMi Thunderbolts started off promisingly by beating SSTMI Juniors 8-1 and Olak Tigers 7-2, but struggled against last seaon's Division Two teams Nur Insafi and SMKDBL Young Guns.
Boht the teams played in the Division Two final last season, where Nur Insafi edged SMKDBL Young Guns 3-2 -- and both the promoted to Division One this season.
And surprisingly, SSTMI could only beat SMKDBL Young Guns 3-0 and let in the first goals against Nur Insafi before beating them 4-1.
SSTMI meet Petaling Jaya City Council (PJCC) on Friday, and if they continue playing like this, they might drop three points.
The only spark in this JHL is SSP-MSP-Thunderbolts who are second on the Division One standings but have played on ematch less that leaders SSTMI Thunderbolts.
The Pahang Thunderbolts, SSP-MSP, are fielding four 16-year-olds, seven 17-year-olds, five 18-year-olds and only four 19-year-olds in the ongoing JHL.
Some of their players, although yet to mature, have shown glitters of promise and could surprise the gallery when the dust settles.
In Division Two the 25 teams, with 20 players each, are just going through the motions of completing their fixtures -- and that's 500 players who have poor basics.
The stands have been empty not only of spectators, but also Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) officials and scouts.
That's the state of the JHL at the half-way mark of the League stage.
P W D L F A Pts
SSTMI TNDER' 4 4 0 0 22 4 12
SSP-MSP-TNDER' 3 3 0 0 22 3 9
POLITEKNIK 4 2 1 1 7 5 7
BJSS TNDER' 3 2 0 1 9 4 6
PJCC 3 2 0 1 6 3 6
UNIKL YOUNG GUNS 4 2 0 2 9 11 6
SMKDBL YOUNG GUNS 4 1 0 3 8 13 3
OLAK TIGERS 4 1 0 3 9 17 3
NURINSAFI 4 0 1 3 5 29 1
SSTMI JRS 3 0 0 3 3 20 0
Sunday, January 24, 2016
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