Another title beckons KLHC

KUALA Lumpur Hockey Club (KLHC) lifted their maiden  Malaysia Hockey League title in 2006, and went on to romp  away with their seventh League title on Friday with a match  in hand.
   However, they have not been so lucky in their double  attempts, as they only have three which they won in 2008,  2010 and 2011.
    Sapura (2006) and Tenaga Nasional (2007, 2009) denied  them a clean sweep of titles in epic finals.
    So, naturally, team manager George Koshy is optimistic,  but not overly confident of another mammoth feat.
    “We started off as Ernst and Young and evolved to KLHC  and have seven League and three Overall titles since 2006.
    “But looking back, even with the best available players in  the country, we were denied three Overall titles by Sapura  and Tenaga,” said Koshy.
    But the final beckons KLHC again, as they will be either  paired with Sapura or Maybank in the two-leg semi-finals.
   KLHC and Tenaga Nasional are seeded, while Sapura and  Maybank will draw lots today to determine who they meet in  the last four.
   “Frankly speaking, I would prefer to play Maybank be cause Sapura have improved much in the return leg matches.  They even held Tenaga Nasional (2-2) and are a patient side  which defends well and then mounts fast attacks.
    “And with a two-leg semi-finals, this could prove to be  dangerous,” said Koshy.
     Koshy, who is also the national seniors team manager, then  changed hats and spoke about the national team’s se lection.
    “Coach Paul Revington is keen to recall several old-timers  after watching them in the MHL. He will select 30 trainees,  and about six of them would be former players who still have  it in them,” said Koshy.
    Former internationals Chua Boon Huat, Ismail Abu, Amin  Rahim and Madzli Ikmar are being courted to return for the  Champions Challenge I in Argentina.
   “Some of them have been given training schedules and if  they follow it an improve their fitness, they might just see  themselves representing the country again.”
     Today, the Premier Division matches have no bearing as  the title as well as semi-finals slots have already been  determined after Friday’s matches.
  Meanwhile in Division One, Armed Forces won the League title when they beat Politeknik KPT 4-0. Thunderbolt ended second when they edged Johor HA 2-1.
   
PREMIER DIVISION

                     P  W  D  L  F    A  Pts
KLHC            9  7  1  1  46  12  22
TNB              9  4  5  0  24  18  17
Sapura          9  3  4  2  18  16  13
Maybank        9  3  3  3  19  23  12
UniKL            9  1  2  6  16  26  5
Nur Insafi      9  1  1  7  17  45  4DIVISION ONE

                       P  W  D  L  F  A  Pts

Forces               6  4  2  0  12  4   14
Thunderbolt      6  4  1  1  12  6  13
BJSS                 6  4  0  2  27 18   12
Johor HA         6  3  0  3  16  16  9
Uniten             6  2  1  3  10  12  7
UiTM               6  2  0  4  10  19   6
Politeknik       6  0  0  6  7  19   0

  RESULTS -- Division One: BJSS 9 UiTM 4, Politeknik KPT 0  Armed Forces 4, Thunderbolt 2 Johor HA 1. 
   TODAY -- Premier Division: Sapura v Nur Insafi-MBI  (National Stadium Pitch II, 4pm), Tenaga v KLHC (National  Stadium Pitch II, 6pm), Maybank  v  UniKL (National Stadium  Pitch II, 8pm). 

7up for George and his men..

KUALA Lumpur Hockey Club (KLHC) lifted their seventh consecutive Malaysia Hockey League title when they beat UniKL 3-1 in the Premier Division yesterday.
  KLHC still have a match against Tenaga on Sunday to complete their fixtures, but the title is all theirs as a chasing Tenaga Nasional drew 2-2 with Sapura in the last match of the day and dashed their hopes.
  However, it was not an easy win for KLHC as UniKL gave them a gallant fight and only cracked in the 25th minute, when Ahmad Kazamirul sent in a high flick to put the defending champions 1-0 ahead.
  And three minutes into the second half, KLHC doubled their advantage through the solo efforts of Syamim Yusof.
  UniKL pulled one back in the 54th minute off a Rashid Baharom deflection, but KLHC doused the fightback when Ismail Abu scored their third in the 70th minute.
  And on Pitch I of the National Stadium, Maybank booked the last semifinals spot with a gritty 3-2 win over Nur Insafi Perak.
   KLHC and Tenaga are seeded for the semi-finals draw, while Sapura and Maybank will draw lots on Sunday to determine who they meet.
  "With the League title in our hands, we will be going for the double now. Today (yesterday) my players were a little cautious and that is why we bungled many chances to seal the match early.
  "The MHL this season was quite grueling, because very little separated the top-four teams in the second round, so I consider the semi-finals are going to be a cracker," said KLHC team manager George Koshy.
  Meanwhile, UniTen (Universiti Tenaga Nasional) coach Ikmal Abadul Jabar is peeved with the Technical Committee of the MHL who kept changing their match schedule against UitM.
  "The match was scheduled for 4pm today (yesterday) but since Monday, we have been receiving calls and e-mails from the Technical Committee changing it to 6pm, 8pm and finally back to 4pm.
  "This is very unprofessional of them, as we had to keep changing our transport and other plans," said Ikmal.

PREMIER DIVISION

                P  W  D  L  F    A  Pts
KLHC            9  7  1  1  46  12  22
TNB             9  4  5  0  24  18  17
Sapura          9  3  4  2  18  16  13
Maybank         9  3  3  3  19  23  12
UniKL           9  1  2  6  16  26  5
Nur Insafi      9  1  1  7  17  45  4


DIVISION ONE

                 P  W  D  L  F  A  Pts

Forces           5  3  2  0  8  4   11
Thunderbolt      5  3  1  1  10  5  10
BJSS             5  3  0  2  18 14   9
Johor HA         5  3  0  2  15  14  9
Uniten           6  2  1  3  10  12  7
UiTM             5  2  0  3  6  10   6
Politeknik       5  0  0  5  7  15   0

  RESULTS -- PREMIER DIVISION: Maybank 3 Nur Insafi 2, UniKL 1 KL Hockey Club 3, Tenaga 2 Sapura 2.
  DIVISION ONE: UiTM 1 Uniten 0.
  TODAY -- Division One: BJSS v    UiTM (National Stadium, 5pm), Politeknik KPT v Armed Forces (Taman Daya, 6pm), Thunderbolt v Johor HA (Taman Daya, 8pm).

Archbishop hammers Catholics..

Archbishop Carroll's Alyssa Lemons (left) pushes the ball past Lansdale Catholic 's Kathleen DiFerdiando. Photo by Gene Walsh / Times Herald Staff

RADNOR — Even though Lansdale Catholic field hockey coach Concetta Valerio is in her first season as head coach of the Crusaders, she knew full well what to expect when taking her team to play a game against Archbishop Carroll on the Patriots’ field.
    “They’re always good,” said Valerio. “They always have girls with really good stick skills.”
    The Crusaders were treated to an up-close and personal look at the Pats’ skills Wednesday afternoon in a game at Carroll’s grass field in Radnor. Archbishop Carroll scored in the opening minute, had six goals in the book by halftime and went on to post an 8-0 Philadelphia Catholic League win.

Colin Batch for NZ now..

IN CHARGE: New Black Sticks men's coach, Australian Colin Batch
   
 The men's Black Sticks have appointed Colin Batch as their new coach.
    Hockey New Zealand announced this morning the former Australian player, "highly respected and recognised as a world-class coach", has taken the reins after Shane McLeod quit following a poor Olympic campaign.
  Batch has been head coach of the Belgium men's team for the last two years and assistant to the Australian men's team for eight years, which included two successful Olympic campaigns.
  Hockey NZ chief executive Hilary Poole said she is delighted with the appointment.

Adios bitches, gets coach fired..

By Philip Hersh

An Olympic assistant coach who wrote an offensive sign-off in an email letter to members of the U.S. women’s Under-21 field hockey team was fired Monday by USA Field Hockey.
    But Nick Conway, 38, was allowed to be head coach of that team in the Pan American Junior Championship that ended Saturday.
   In response to complaints about the “Adios bitches” sign-off that Conway used in a Sept. 6 email, USA Field Hockey executive director Steven Locke said in a Sept. 13 email to those who complained that both legal time constraints and expressions of support from team members led the federation to keep Conway in the position for the Pan Am tournament.
   The Tribune has obtained copies of the Sept. 6 and Sept. 13 correspondence as well as an email apology from Conway, who was named women’s national team assistant coach in December, 2011 and filled that role at the London Olympics.  Prior to that, he had been the men’s national team head coach for six years.
   The women’s Under-21 team won the bronze medal at the Junior Pan American tournament in Guadalajara, Mexico.
  Chicago Tribune

Nick Conway's full apology

Hi Everyone,

Please accept my most sincere and absolute apologies for the sign off in my email from earlier today regarding the addition of Rachel Dawson to the u21 management team.

My intent with this sign off was to reference some moments of hilarity within our group from our training camp together in Maryland, August 16-22.  It was an attempt to have you giggle to yourself, to provide a mild piece of levity and most importantly to connect our group ahead of our approaching tournament.  It was a reference to the gift that you most graciously gave to me on the final morning following the conclusion of the training camp.

It is clear that this commentary without context is inappropriate and causes offense.  If this commentary caused you any offense whatsoever I sincerely and unreservedly apologize.  Please understand that that was never my intention.  My singular goal is to assist our u21 team with qualification to the Junior World Cup and I would never deliberately jeopardize this objective.

Once again, my apologies, to everyone.  

Sincerely yours,

Nick.

The original email

Hi Everyone,

I'm absolutely delighted to announce that dual Olympian Rachel Dawson will be joining the u21 management team for the Junior Pan American Championships in a video technology and coaching capacity.

This completes our management team following the recent departure of Katelyn Nerbonne from USA Field Hockey (Katelyn was originally in position as the video support staff).

Manager:  Dingo (Beijing 2008)
Head Coach:  Nick (London 2012)
Assistant Coach:  Shellie (Beijing 2008)
Video Coach:  Rachel (Beijing 2008, London 2012)
Trainer:  Katie (London 2012)

We are a stronger staff for the addition of Rachel Dawson.  If you don't already now Rach, you guys will absolutely love her.

Welcome Rach, you will love this group.  They have a unique fun loving energy that I know you will thrive on.

Safe travels to everyone on Saturday / Sunday.

Adios bitches,

Nick.