Triton Hockey Club

Triton HC 2016/17 Season Summary

20 April 2017 by Tim Statham

Triton Club has enjoyed a successful season with very good progress made within both its senior and junior sections.

The Ladies’ 1s blazed a trail for the Club winning promotion to North Division 2 South after being crowned Champions of Cheshire Division 1. The team was in the promotion mix with Oxton and Alderley Edge 2s from the start of the campaign but a run of 10 consecutive wins saw the team clinch the League title with a game to spare. Stand out performances came from Maddie Goodman as league player of the season plus 26 goals from skipper Becki Burndred.

The Men’s 1s also had a season of solid progress finishing third in NW Division 2 in its first season at this level after promotion plus it narrowly lost 1-2 in the final of the Cheshire Plate. The team was in contention for an automatic promotion place up until the final two games of the season, scoring over 100 goals in the campaign.

Although the Men’s 2s finished second bottom of Divisions 4 South the team was very young full of numerous graduates from the Club’s junior section and was a steep learning curve for our new skipper Tom Fielding following a serious injury to stalwart David Farrington during the summer. The Ladies’ 2s enjoyed a satisfactory season of consolidation and improvement with a mid-table finish in Division 3 after relegation last season. The team brought through many new players under the stewardship of Julie Harris which should stand it in good stead for next year.

The Men’s 3s under another new captain Si Cruxton very narrowly missed out on promotion from Division 7SE finishing in fourth place just three points behind Brooklands 6s in second place. Whilst the Men’s 4s with Alan Lewis at the helm finished in a very satisfactory mid-table position after promotion last season playing with a real blend of youth and experience.

Although the Ladies’ 3s finished bottom of Division 5 it made so much progress winning three games in total, keeping pace with the teams just above right until the final game of the season. Everyone at the Club was delighted to see skipper Jenna Hulme returning from her long term injury.

The juniors’ section also enjoyed another terrific season. With many of the older girls and boys experiencing a taste of senior hockey at different points of the season. The U15s and U13s played regularly on Saturdays in the Consortium. U15 Badgers won about half its fixtures under the stewardship of Dave Laxton and Neil Chivers whilst the U13 Beavers won 14 of its 24 games scoring over 100 goals in the process.

The U12 Boys narrowly lost in the semi final of the Cheshire In2Hockey Cup and the U14s Girls took part in the England Hockey Development League.

Arguably the biggest junior success has come in the U10s with a big rise in numbers, with GB Ladies’ Olympic success appearing to fire the imagination of many youngsters and their parents. The team competed regularly at Timperley, Deeside and Crewe Vagrants right through the season.

26 of the Club’s juniors were selected for East Cheshire JAC and 10 of the youngsters were in the Manchester Pumas JRPC in September. From these Maddie Goodman was selected for England HIPAC U15s North centre and sister Gaby Goodman represented Wales Senior Development Squad.

18 year old and former junior Nathan Pragnall represented Royal Navy U25s and played for UK Armed Forces against England U18s in April whilst Director of Hockey Neil Titford continues in his role as UK Armed Forces over 40s player coach.