Last year as Howie Joe and I sat at Hackett Park and watched the Gibsons Pigs win their playoff game with the Sechelt Chiefs, Joe said, "Next year, you're going to see Chiefs in the final." Since the Chiefs had just finished the league in last place, I thought that to be a bold statement. Now here we are a year later, with the Chiefs as tournament champs.
Sunday had a full day of men's soccer before the Chiefs could lay claim to their cup. IGA Selects gave Gibsons United a run for their money as Glenn Coady banked a nice ball off the head of Barry Krangle into the side pocket of the net. A goal by Dave Dagliesh tied the match. United won that match in a shootout to face ever-present Pender Harbour Bananas for the Beer Cup.
The Beer Cup is one trophy that never gets lost, or sits waiting for engraving at Suncoast Lock and Safe, because every season at tournament's end, it winds up in the trash can as a pile of empties and a ball of duct tape. However, it is dear to Pender, and they won it again this year, with a couple of cracker goals fromRobin Millarand a single from Ryan Boyd, with Rich Getzkow scoring for United.
In the first semifinal, Wolves took on Chiefs. Wolves missed defenders Dan Meyers and Ian Dixon with pulled hamstrings, and Chiefs took the match 2-1 with goals from Curtis Craigan and 'Smiling' Scotty Johnson.
In the second semi, Halfmoon Bay scored first on Coast Progressive United (CPU) with a nifty breakaway move from Jeff 'Wadge This' Wadge. HMB held the fort with good defending from Dean Schutz, until CPU's Eoin Walker ran in to put away a pairand land CPU in the final. Interestingly, HMB won every other game of their tournament, including their third place match with Wolves 3-0.
The final match saw the Chiefs' Red Army matched up against the Orangemen of CPU.
Officiating these men's games can be a tough job. While not as tough as fishing for Alaskan king crab in the Bering Sea, some refs still refer to the men's league assignment as 'the most dangerous match'. This year the duty of officiating the final game fell to Pig's Ken Campbell. Spectator Jesse Agnew mentioned that it was one of the best officiated men's games he's seen. The first half of the game was scoreless, and CPU got stellar defending from Jim 'Brave' Harte, though 'Magic' Matty Joe did slam the crossbar.
Fifteen minutes into the second half, Chiefs were awarded a critical free kick, but Nick Felton didn't choke under the pressure, and stepped up to hit the ball into the top of the net with Zidane-like precision.
A few minutes later, Rick August hit the net with a header from a cross by Felton and it was 2-0.
As the game seemed to be getting away from CPU, Simon Hocking battled Steve Peel on the wing, and managed to get inside to nail the back uprights to put CPU within a goal. Peel soon had his chance with a header that keeper Jeff Maisonette got in front of.
As the minutes ticked off, Fumi Takahashi battled for the ball in midfield with Nick Charlton to try to send his strikers, but Chiefs' fullback Keith 'Chino' Julius grabbed a ball and hit a low crack that made it 3-1 Chiefs.
