​The Maties Hockey men’s team ended a roller-coaster season in style with a sixth consecutive Western Province Grand Challenge title.

Maties started the year with a place in the final of the Varsity Sport hockey tournament and followed that up with another appearance in a final at USSA. With both finals ending in disappointing fashion, Keenan Horne and his teammates really wanted to end the year in good form by winning the league like they did the past five years.

They clinched the league with a victory over Langa, but there was one more game to go. In 2017 Maties won the league but ended the season with a loss against WPCC. This time round they wanted to set the record straight.

Maties won the match against WPCC and ended the season in style, bringing to an end the careers of three Maties players who played for Maties for a combined total of more than two decades. Horne (8 years), Jordan Turnbull (7) and Dayne Samboer (6) all played their last match for Maties.

“After losing two finals this year, there was a lot of pressure to win the league,” said Horne. “So, to get the title and end the season with a victory is just what we wanted and needed.”

During the 2018 season Maties played 28 games, won 21 and drew 4. Maties scored 87 goals and conceded only 33. Samboer was the top goal-scorer with 16 followed by Reece Arendse (12) and Luke Schooling (10).