The National Finals day was a great success, with four teams battling it out for the title in two exciting semifinals, a bronze medal match, and a gold medal match. The day also featured a women’s national team exhibition match showcasing the best talent in the sport.
In the first semifinal, Great White Sharks faced off against Bristol in a hard-fought match that saw both teams displaying great skill and determination. Despite an early lead by Bristol, Great White Sharks rallied back and eventually clinched the victory. The final score was 6-4 in favour of Great White Sharks.
The second semifinal was equally intense, with United Cities of Midlands taking on Cambridge. The back and forth affair saw an entertaining 3-3 at regular time sending. Despite good chances, we saw no goals in the extra time, which took the game to a penalty shootout where goalkeeper heroics gave Cambridge the win.
The women’s national team exhibition match was a great opportunity for fans to see some of the sport’s rising stars in action. The match featured some incredible skills and athleticism, and provided a glimpse into the future of women’s floorball in the UK.
In the bronze medal match, Bristol and United Cities of Midlands faced off in a thrilling match that went down to the wire. United Cities of Midlands lead throughout most of the game and were 5-2 up with less than 5 minutes to play. Bristol dug deep and managed to get it both to 5-4 as well as 6-5. The ascendancy came a bit too late though and they weren’t able to find the equaliser in the game’s closing seconds.
The gold medal match was the main event of the day, with current champions, the Great White Sharks, taking on Cambridge. A couple of goals in the first period by Cambridge got them off to a good start. Great White Sharks came back strong however and the game was finely balanced at 3-3 going into the 3rd period. Two fine individual goals by Cambridge gave them the edge at the midway point of the last period and they managed to weather the storm by Great White Sharks to finish the game with a 7-4 with two of the late goals scored on an empty net.
Overall, the National Finals day was a great showcase of the talent and passion in the sport of floorball. Congratulations to all the teams who participated, and a special shoutout to Cambridge for their championship victory and qualification for the EuroFloorball Challenge 2023. We look forward to next year’s National Finals day, and hope to see even more exciting matches in the future!
Don’t miss the day’s footage on:
- UKFF Facebook page.
- UKFF YouTube page (includes highlights).
- Graham Hodges’ photography. Gold medal match. Bronze medal match. Women’s national team showcase. Semifinal 1, semifinal 2.
- IFF news piece.
