Bathurst's Jaden Ekert wins Australian Over 35s Hockey Masters title, finishes tournament as leading goal scorer

If Jaden Ekert could have written the perfect script for his debut Australian Hockey Masters appearance then it might have looked pretty close to that - and on Sunday he got to live it out.

Ekert's New South Wales side claimed Over 35s Australian Masters glory on the Gold Coast by taking out the grand final 3-2 in a shoot out over Queensland, after the game finished 2-all at full-time.

It was a moment that Ekert had been waiting more than two years for after his debut masters appearance was cancelled due to COVID-19.

The Bathurst striker finished his tournament with nine goals to his name, one of which came from a penalty corner in the grand final to give his side a 2-1 lead at the end of the third quarter.

Queensland hit back with nine minutes to go to force the grand final into a one-on-one shoot out.

Blues goalkeeper Shaun O'Brien stepped up to force two Maroons misses in the shoot out while the visitors missed just one of their efforts before Ekert finished his attempt from a tight angle to give his side a 3-2 lead.

Queensland then missed their fifth shoot out attempt to deliver Ekert and the Blues the title.

As a former Queenslander Ekert was going up against many familiar faces in the grand final and loved every minute of the experience.

"It was pretty magical. Any final win is great, especially when it's against Queensland," he said.

"I knew every single one of their players. It was a little bit weird. We were 2-1 up but then they scored a bit of contentious goal, and we then went straight into a shoot out, so that was pretty intense.

"I had to score mine to make sure that if they missed their next one that it would be all over, so that was pretty nerve wreaking.

"Nine of our 15 still play first grade in Sydney so we had an absolutely red hot side. It's probably one of the best teams I've been a part of and probably the most fun I've had, probably because it didn't feel quite as serious and didn't have that cut-throat feel about it.

"As soon as you start playing and walk across that line though the competitiveness comes out of everyone."

Things got off to nightmare start for the Blues in the decider when Queensland's Simon Mills opened the scoring from a penalty corner in the third minute.

NSW hit back just before half-time through a Sam Ash field goal but a yellow card midway through the third term gave Queensland and opportunity to hit back.

The Blues defended well and were rewarded for their efforts when Ekert put them up with his effort after the siren.

Eksteen Fourie levelled it back up for the Maroons in the fourth quarter and the game went straight to a shoot out at the full-time whistle, as there was no extra-time to be played.

NSW's success in the shoot out capped off a special tournament on the Gold Coast for Ekert, who scored in every match.

He opened the competition with a hat trick in NSW's 8-0 win over their Blues B-team then picked up a brace in the 6-0 victory against Queensland's second string outfit.

In what would be the grand final preview against the Maroons he scored the only goal of the game in the 1-0 success, then scored in the entertaining 5-4 win over Tasmania.

Ekert then scored a late penalty stroke for the Blues in their 3-0 semi-final rematch with the Tasmanians to seal their path to the finale.

"The final was extra intense because those guys definitely don't want me to score and don't want me to beat them, but that ended up happening so that was awesome," he laughed.

Ekert could be in line for selection in the Australian Masters side, which is expected to be announced over the coming weeks.

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