Men start league with conf idence

THE men’s defending champions may already have the edge on some of the other teams heading into the Premier Hockey League, starting tomorrow.

With 13 of their players all based in Gauteng, the Maropeng Cavemen have managed to have a few training sessions together ahead of the tournament, which kicks off at the Randburg Astro.

Confidence is high that they will be able to defend the title they claimed last year.

“We always say we’re confident. I always go out there to win so I don’t have any other mindset,” coach Mark Sanders said.

“We don’t want to be arrogant about it but we will be confident about our ability and our team’s ability,” he said.

Meanwhile, for Lindsey Wright, coach of last year’s women’s winners, the Blyde River Bunters, having the tag of defending champions going into the PHL means nothing.

“That was the team of 2016, so that belongs to those girls. This is a new team this year and we’ll create new goals,” she said.

“I don’t want them to even think about themselves as being defending champions.

“They’re merely getting an opportunity to create their own destiny and legacy.”

The Bay will be represented by the Kilimanjaro Addo Elephants, who play Drakensberg Dragons in their opening game tomorrow. Their squad is: Franco Carstens, Zamokuhle Ngubo, Daniel Sibbald (marquee), Jonty Robinson (marquee), Andrew Manson, Matthew Martins (marquee), Sinoxolo Mbekeni, Brett Walraven, Onke Letuka, Chad Durrheim, Jody Erasmus, Reberto Bosman, Winray Christoffels, Damian Kimfley, Joshua August, Jermaine Johnson, Bjorn Sorensen, Julian Hykes (marquee), Robin Jones (marquee), Ignatius Malgraff (marquee)