NORTH Central Hockey Association’s second semi-final was played at Boort on Saturday,
And the crowd was treated to a full day of high-intensity hockey as the top two teams of each grade went head to head in hopes of earning that Grand Final slot.
The men’s semi-final was billed as the game of the day, and it lived up to expectations. From the first whistle the intensity was fierce, with crunching tackles, vocal support from the crowd, and the umpires busy keeping tempers in check.
Calder struck first late in the opening quarter when Marcus Williamson pounced on a rebound from a short corner to make it 1-0. 
The second quarter was fiery, with multiple green cards and even a yellow cards coming out saw both teams playing short on players for extended periods. Amid the chaos, St Arnaud equalised through Ben Greenaway, who  converted from a short corner to square it up at 1-1 before halftime.
The pace didn’t drop in the second half. Calder pressed hard through repeated corners, only to be denied by St Arnaud keeper Sam Cook and defenders throwing themselves into the fray. 
At the other end, Thomas Watts and Ben Greenaway threatened to break the deadlock, but Calder’s Jacob Moresi and Nick Rowley held the defensive line repelling attack after attack.
With no further scores coming before full time the match was set to go to shoot outs in a mirror of the women’s game before it with Calder and St Arnaud once again lining up.
Joe Watts opened for St Arnaud with a goal, before Paddy Eccles replied for Calder. Ben Greenaway then found the net before Calder’s Max Rowley bringing it back to level after the first round of shoot outs. With the scores locked at 3-3 sudden death shoot outs were the only way to resolve a winner. Max Rowley having already scored in the first stage of the shoot out was selected to step up first in sudden death for Calder. 
A calm but powerful flick by Max Rowley past keeper Sam Cook saw hope for Calder. Saints Ed Parry tried to work his way around keeper Will Ison but no clean opportunity appeared. As the eight seconds was up and no score coming from the Saints, Calder players swarmed keeper Will Ison erupting in celebration with a 4-3 win seeing them chasing a grand final dream.
The underage semi was a hard-fought contest from start to finish. Charlton began brightly, pushing into attack and forcing Saints’ keeper into early saves. A short corner chance was denied, but minutes later Amali Fitzpatrick drove a ball across the D for Ruby Wright to finish cleanly and put Charlton ahead going into halftime.
Saints lifted after halftime, Samuel Greenaway carrying strongly up the left wing to test the defence, but Charlton’s backline stood tall. 
Multiple short corners were earned by Charlton, including one where Murphy Fitzpatrick’s flick over grounded keeper Forbes Kirk had finally slipped past only to be stopped on the line by Saints’ defender Isabella Bigmore who cleared it brilliantly off the line. Forbes’ relentless defence kept Saints dreams alive but with no goals coming the early damage had been done. Charlton managed to hold their slender lead and book their spot in the grand final with a 1-0 win.