Northland police fall to Counties Manukau in national police hockey final

New recruit Talor Pattison (blue) in the thick of the action for the Northland police team in the final against Counties Manukau. Photo / John Stone

A home crowd advantage wasn't enough for the Northland police hockey team in their national police hockey tournament final at the Kensington Park turf yesterday, losing to Counties Manukau, 1-0.

In the competition's decade-long history, this was the first time Whangārei had hosted the tournament and two Northland teams had entered vying for the title. Six other teams from different police districts, including an invitational side, travelled up from as far as Canterbury and Wellington for the two-day event, starting on Thursday.

For the first time, the tournament included a team from Fire and Emergency New Zealand which was made up of fire and ambulance services staff. Similar police tournaments were held during the year for different sporting codes including football, rugby, netball, crossfit and waka ama.

The stronger Northland team won their three pool games against Waitemata, Canterbury, and the invitational side to make it through to the final against Counties Manukau. The other Northland side, sponsored by police-backed community organisation Blue Light, finished seventh after some tough games.

Teams played two halves of 20 minutes in what were competitive games of hockey which featured players ranging in ability from those who had never played the game to players who competed at a national level.

Northland's Nick Pirihi looks for a runner as he brings the ball up the field. Photo / John Stone

From the tournament, the men's and women's national teams were selected to play in a New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) tournament against army, navy and air force hockey teams.

Five Northland players were picked after their performances over the two days: Teuila Wendt, Toni Bean, Samaria Tugaga, Christian Stainton and as a non-travelling reserve, Thomas Nankivell.

"The tournament is about getting together, like most sports things, it's good to have time with work colleagues from different areas," Whangārei police sergeant Stainton said.

"It's healthy competition and it also supports what the police are trying to do, keep fit and be active."

The final was a well-contested game between two sides with talented hockey players trying to get bragging rights over the other districts. After netting a goal in the first half, Counties Manukau defended well with some excellent saves by their keeper to deny the Northland players any chance of equalising.

"It was an awesome final so we weren't too disappointed," Stainton said.

"It was a really well-contested game, Counties always produce good hockey players and they've won the cup quite a few times so they are always hard competitors."

Stainton, who had played in the tournament for the last eight years, said Northland keeper Sam Davidson kept them in the match as they entered the second half.

"We went into second half quite confident because we had structure in place and our keeper made some wicked saves but so did their keeper."

The players selected for the NZDF tournament will compete later in the year.