final of the Bermuda Hockey Festival.

And a strategy they had perfected during a successful run towards the final blew up in their faces against a red-hot and unstoppable BSC Young Boys goalkeeper.

The plan: Park four or more players in front of the opposition goal and exert keen pressure.

The result: The `blitz' would confuse the other team so much that it took away any of their options and would eventually turn over the ball.

But in the final, however, CAC were the ones who ran out of options as the team Berne, Switzerland, stripped CAC of their coveted master plan, defeating the Bermudians 2-0 in a game where their goalkeeper Karin Ryff was undeniably magical.

BSC proved that goalkeeping was their strong suit and created a bigger stir after the game when they decided to remove their sweaty uniforms -- and more -- near the souvenir concession stand, exposing a lot more than CAC's flaws in the final.

Each player barely contained their delight for Ryff, who enabled them to win the festival. Their most crucial victory coming earlier in the day when BSC eliminated defending champions Mocklow's Magic 2-0 on strokes after a 1-1 draw during regular time to survive the knockout round.

In the men's final, Staffhawks won their third consecutive title with a tactical 2-1 victory over Toronto. Both games were played at National Sports Club.

During the women's final, the Bermudians played a gritty and determined game and never gave up.

The Young Boys scored 19 minutes into the first half when Christine Grossenbacher tore apart the CAC defence and displayed her gifted scoring touch that became a trademark of the 15th festival.

Bermuda's offensive spark plugs -- Rhonda Rawlins, Lisa DeSilva and Joanne Wilson -- realised early how difficult scoring would be.

Putting the ball beyond Ryff was difficult enough, but trying to penetrate the steel curtain of Manuela Biemgartner and Georgette Bruining -- who was later named MVP of the final -- became an impossible task.

Not even a scorching slapshot, which hit Biemgartner's face, could slow her down.

Grossenbacher connected again five minutes later with a brilliant, twisted slapshot and the game appeared out of reach for CAC.

During half-time, CAC coach Nigel Pichery gathered his players and desperately tried to change the ebb and flow of the game.

"There was nothing to lose,'' said Pichery. "We were down 2-0, so we pulled one of our halfbacks and we went with four forwards, and when that didn't work we pulled our second midfielder and went with five forwards hoping to turn the game around.'' Bermuda had plenty of goal-scoring opportunities in the second half, including a penalty flick by Rawlins 15 minutes before the final horn.

Rawlins whacked the ball towards Ryff's left side but the Swiss goalie caught the spinning ball with ease.

With time running out, CAC threw Rosie Daniels into the offensive equation but Ryff -- wearing a Vancouver Canucks National Hockey League jersey for good luck -- kicked away a dozen more shots.

"She was excellent today,'' BSC coach Stefan Gerber said. "You can't teach her anything. It's all instinct, and I've never seen anything like it before.

We don't have to do any training with her. She's absolutely 100 percent.'' Pichery agreed: "I think without her, we probably would have had things a lot easier,'' he said. "She is an excellent goalkeeper with excellent reflexes.

"But I'm very proud of my team. It's good to see that they didn't give up.

They didn't drop their heads. They kept fighting.'' Staffhawks, 2-1 losers to Toronto during the second day of the tournament, entered the final wanting to shut down the Canadian team's key offensive combination of Andrew Griffiths and Patrick Burrows. They managed that and a 2-0 lead on a pair of calmly-placed goals from Stuart (Spike) Perfit by the middle of the second half.

Instead of collapsing, Toronto threw enormous pressure on the British defence and the tide seemed to be turning when Burrows chipped in what appeared to be a certain goal. Even after the goal was disallowed, Toronto kept the pressure on with Griffiths finally slapping the ball past goalie Simon Staffurth.

Staffhawks kept the ball away from the frustrated Canadians during the last three minutes to win the title.

HANDY ANDY -- Bermudian Andrew Griffiths, above, was a stand-out for Toronto during the hockey festival and contributed with a goal in the men's final on Sunday despite extra coverage by Staffhawks defenders. The British-based team won the men's crown for the second straight year.