By Tara Murray
Caroline Springs is through to its first men’s Hockey Victoria grand final.
After two of the club’s women’s sides won premierships last year in their first season, the men’s side is keen to join the party this year.
The two men’s sides played in preliminary finals on Saturday with mixed results.
The men’s metro A north west team won through to the grand final, while the metro B west team was knocked out on penalties.
Men’s coach David Gorton said they were thrilled to have made their first grand final in such a short period of time.
Gorton said once they gained the lead early against MUHC in metro A north, they were able to control momentum of the game.
“We worked hard in the first half in a high intensity game and were up 2-0 at half-time,” he said.
“We pretty much put players in prime positions to sustain the lead and weather the pressure.
“We managed to score on a break to get it 3-0 and the match was absolutely done by then.”
Nick Toogood, Jatinder Singh and Paramjit Dhillon were the goalscorers for Springers.
Gorton said their forward line ran the defence ragged.
It was the first time the side had been able to field their best line-up and having got through without injuries, they look set to have the same line-up again this week.
“It’s the first time in this competition and we’re playing against more established clubs,” Gorton said. “We’re playing some good level of hockey and hopefully it can continue.”
The Springers face Footscray in the grand final on Saturday.
The two teams played each other in the semi-finals just over a week a go.
Gorton said they’re better prepared this time around
“We haven’t beaten them. The last time we ran out of legs.
“It’s a whole different game this time.”
The metro B team just fell short of reaching the grand final.
Scores were level at 1-1 after regular time, before Springers lost on penalties to Melton 3-2.
The weekend’s results mean the Springers have three of their four senior teams in grand finals.
Both women’s sides won through to second straight grand finals appearances last weekend.
