Carnival returns to Albany

Hockey players from the Great Southern and even from the metropolitan area will descend on Albany this weekend for the annual Great Southern Carnival, hosted by the Lower Great Southern Hockey Association.

A total of 22 teams have entered the carnival which began back in the 1920s and was run as separate events for men and women until recently when the two were combined.

Curtin, North Coast Raiders, Ellenbrook, Greater Wheatbelt, Tambellup, Katanning, Mt Barker, North Albany, Manypeaks, Esperance, York and Wagin will compete in the men’s competition while Central Great Southern has two teams in the women’s draw to compete against Ellenbrook, Esperance, Robins, Ongerup, Albany Vikings, Spencer Peaks City, Albany Prehistorics and Albany Bullets.

Teams will play qualifying games consisting of two 20-minute halves on both turf and grass fields across Saturday and Sunday to determine the grand finals which close the event on Sunday.

Men’s and women’s All Star teams will be selected from the carnival while the traditional Saturday night dinner will be held at PCYC from 7.30pm.

In 2015 the carnival was played in Mt Barker. York hosted the carnival last year which attracted 17 teams and, as part of rotation system, Esperance appears likely to host it in 2018.

LGSHA president Geoff Sandilands was delighted with the amount of team nominations and was expecting another enjoyable weekend of regional hockey.

The LGSHA is grateful to the numerous Great Southern businesses that have come on board to sponsor the long-running carnival.