HOCKEY - NHL formula plays in our favour: coach

New Northland men's hockey coach Pat Barry believes a new format in this year's National Hockey League may help Northland to be more upwardly mobile in this season's standings.
While good results against the big four teams in the competition should never be counted on, they are more likely in the new tournament format.
"The tournament format can reveal all sorts of unusual results ... and while Northland should never expect to win against [teams like] North Harbour and Wellington, they will act as a great wake-up call for a Northland side and will help them to be ready for their winnable games," he said.
Barry spent last Saturday watching the men's premier grade teams play and was pleased with some of the individual talent he saw on display.
"When I was watching club hockey last weekend, although it's way down on the level of North Harbour competition, but individually there are guys with very good skill sets, and I really see the job as trying to harness the ability there is up here and getting them to operate as a team."
"I've just seen the proposed [NHL] draw and I'm confident that from what I've seen of the other seven teams that there are three teams that we should be able to peg back without any special effort at all."
While other coaches may not have seen the role of Northland coach as a particularly attractive one after the team finished as wooden spooners last year, Barry believes that gives him the luxury of having plenty to work on.
He is no stranger to hockey in the north. He was player-coach of the United side that halted Springfield's record-breaking championship run in 1986-7.
The real estate developer has moved up here for a year to concentrate on sales in Ruakaka in a sluggish market.
The 50-year-old has played for Northland, Canterbury and North Harbour, as well as being selected for the New Zealand Combined Services Team from 1978 to 1984.
He is a former Northland B coach and has coached North Harbour at both the colts and senior levels throughout the 1980s and 1990s.
After a decade-long break from formal coaching, Barry returned to coach at the New Zealand masters level.
In 2004, he was named the NZ masters-45 coach and has continued to coach successfully at masters level through to this year. The former Air Force physical fitness instructor takes pride in getting teams to work together and hopes to find a team that responds to his passionate approach to the game. ``Perhaps the pride of the North has been missing a bit.
:Northland used to be a hard, unpredictable team to play against, most of the teams I've been associated with over the years never knew what Northland were going to produce before a game.
"There's a bit of work to get back to that standard but we've got a couple of months to do it ... at the moment I'm still at the stage of just observing the skill sets of players."
Last season the team contained only Northland-based players but Barry has no philosophical problems with the use of imports should they be needed.
"With my contacts at Harbour, if we've got a couple of holes to fill in the team to make it more competitive, there are a number of players that can play for Northland, who are living in Warkworth or Wellsford who play their hockey down at Harbour - they're not all going to make the side there - so if we can influence them to swing north rather than go to Midlands, and it will strengthen the team and the alliance between the two associations."
Barry will be back at ITM Stadium again tomorrow watching the premier men's competition. Maungakaramea play Mangapai at 4.50pm, while Bream Bay United play Currie Electrical at 6.20pm.
In the women's premier competition Maungakaramea play Hikurangi at 1.50pm while the two college teams, Kamo High School and Whangarei Girls, clash at 3.20pm.