Bunbury and Districts Hockey Association division one men’s side pull off country championships three-peat

The Bunbury & Districts Hockey Association men’s division one side pulled off a country championships three-peat with a thrilling grand final win over Upper Great Southern on Sunday. Taking a 1-0 lead into the dying moments of the decider at Perth Hockey Stadium, Bunbury conceded a penalty stroke from an UGS short corner after the siren, which was converted to send the game to a one-on-one shoot-out. Bunbury initially fell behind after failing to find the back of the net with two of their chances but were able to hold their nerve and take their opportunities from there, with goalkeeper Jason Vuletich sealing the deal and stepping up to make two huge saves. Coach Lawrie Tylor said the side’s achievement was “pretty special”. “We knew we were going to be up against some pretty tough opposition who were coming for us. We’ve set the benchmark the last couple of years, so we knew it was going to be a tough one,” he said. “I thought we had it (after regular time) and we’d survived, so I almost went through the full range of emotions twice, to be honest” Star attacker Luke Blee was awarded the fairest and best award for the championships but Tylor said the win was a group effort. “Each of them popped up at certain times,” he said. “Braydon Dalton got on the scoreboard fairly regularly as well and Andrew Blee was the rock at the back. “I was very impressed with all the boys.” The team made an imposing start to the tournament on Friday, beating Eastern Goldfields 7-0 and Geraldton 4-0, but were made to qualify for the decider through the semifinal after a 2-0 loss to UGS on Saturday morning saw them finish the round-robin stage as the second seed. But they were able to again take care of business against Geraldton to seal their passage to the grand final, winning 3-0. The lower divisions of the championships also saw some South West success, with Busselton Hockey Association winning the division two decider by beating Bunbury in a shootout and Margaret River Hockey Association suffering a 2-0 loss to Pilbara in the division three grand final.