KUALA LUMPUR: Tunku Mahkota Ismail Sports School (SSTMI) Thunderbolts snatched the Division One Junior Hockey League (JHL) League title from Petaling Jaya City Council (PJCC) Tigers with a 0-0 draw yesterday.
PJCC, last season's League champions, were the only team in Division One which could steal a point from SSTMI who had won all their previous eight matches.
However, PJCC are a lowly sixth on the table with one match in hand.
"Even though we were held to a draw in our final match in the League, it's still satisfying to win the title without losing any of the nine matches. Now we look forward to defending our Overall title in the knock-out stage," said SSTMI coach Wan Roslan Wan Rahman.
The reason for the draw?
"Five of my players went for Youth Olympics training and when they came back, they were too tired to contribute. However, it was a sweet 'victory' to win back the League title from PJCC," said Wan Roslan.
On the lower end of the table, Perlis Young Lions won their first points of the season when they beat winless Old La Sallians Association of Klang (Olak) 4-3.
Olak face Sabah Sports School Resilient at the Pandamaran Stadium next, and win lose or draw, the former champions will be relegated to Division Two next season.
RESULTS -- Sabah SS Resilient 1 Anderson Thunderbolts 2, SMKDBL-UniKL 2 Pahang Sports School 4, PJCC Tigers 0 SSTMI Thunderbolts 0, BJSS Thunderbolts 3 STMI 1, Old La Sallians Association of Klang 3 Perlis Young Lions 4.
DIVISION ONE
P W D L F A Pts
SSTMI THUNDER 9 8 1 0 49 4 25
ANDERSON THUNDER 8 6 1 1 21 8 19
PAHANG THUNDER 8 5 1 2 18 16 16
SMKDBL-UNIKL 8 5 0 3 20 16 15
BJSS THUNDER 8 4 2 2 34 13 14
PJCC TIGERS 8 3 2 3 17 17 11
SSTMI 8 2 1 5 12 22 7
SABAH RESILIENT 7 2 0 5 14 33 6
PERLIS 8 1 0 7 10 30 3
OLAK 8 0 0 8 7 43 0