In 2017 CYMS Hockey Club didn't even exist at the Premier League Hockey level but now, two years on and after Saturday's 4-nil win over Lithgow Zig Zag, they're all but guaranteed a minor premiership and hosting rights for the major semi-final.
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Barring a disaster of Titanic proportions in the final round of the regular season CYMS will claim the first available piece of silverware, they're four points clear on top and their goal difference is astronomically better than second-placed Bathurst St Pat's.
So much so it would take a 13-goal swing for CYMS to drop out of top spot, hardly a likely scenario with the Orange outfit facing Lithgow Panthers and St Pat's charged with an all-Bathurst derby against Souths.
We need to take the positives from it and move on to next week and then the finals.
- CYMS coach Pete Shea, after his side all but guaranteed their minor premiership
CYMS' return to the Premier League fold last year was their first season in the competition as a stand-alone side since 2007, before their merger with Kinross lasted from 2008 to 2014.
Finishing third last year was a huge achievement for the returning side, but building on that to become the competition's front-runner this year has pushed their surge into another stratosphere.
Even so, CYMS coach Pete Shea said the side will be keeping a lid on things as much as possible.
"Everyone was pretty excited [on Saturday], we were told it's the first time an Orange side has won a minor premiership in a long time, going back 17 or 18 years, which is great, although we do still need to make sure we (officially) wrap it up next week," Shea said.
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"It's not the end though. It's definitely a great reflection of our season so far, the good things we've been doing, how we've been playing and where we are as a side so it's a really big positive.
"It'll be great to be able to play that semi-final at home as well regardless of the way it falls with who we'll play, but we need to take the positives from it and move on to next week and then the finals, [Saturday's] win is a good foundation to do that I think."
Despite his side being without NSW Country representatives Madie Smith and Courtney Hogan, both of whom have had a big influence on the side's run to first, Shea said the green and golds were still quite "clinical" in dispatching the Lithgow side.
The victory came from a Georgie Watson brace along with Addie Chapman and Emmie Searl's goals, but the performance itself was far more important than the margin, Shea said.
"We did a lot of things right and it was quite a clinical showing," he said.
"The margin was good but it came from the performance and we really used it as an opportunity to work on a few things and build, build towards the game against Panthers and then the semi-final.
"We've still got work to do, but it was a good way to go into those games."
- ORANGE CYMS 4 (Georgie Watson 2, Addie Chapman, Emmie Searl) def LITHGOW ZIG ZAG 0
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