HOCKEY - Rowsell savours sweet taste of revenge

They reckon revenge is a dish best served cold, not for Rhonda Rowsell though.
The charismatic hockey defender is still hot under the collar about her departure from North Harbour earlier this year, an unexpected move that has so far produced stunning results for the Northland hockey team.
A frank exchange between Rowsell and Harbour coaching staff saw her head back to Whangarei midway through her personal trainer studies in North Harbour where she played club hockey.
Now the Northland women are one result away from nailing the top spot for the National Hockey League finals this weekend after scoring four wins, a draw and just one loss.
The most satisfying result to date: A victory over North Harbour.
The mission this week: To win their last round-robin match against Central tomorrow, qualify top of the table and set up a possible return clash in the championship game with North Harbour.
"Now that would be sweet, beating North Harbour in the final. I was very excited when we beat them the other weekend, I can't really imagine how it will feel if we beat them in a final, even a semifinal. Actually I can imagine, it would be great," Rowsell said.
Considering Northland were not even considered as title contenders when the NHL started a month ago, that Rowsell is able to contemplate a title underlines just how well her team have performed this season.
They were the first team to book a semifinal berth and have put the more fancied provinces into quite a dither. Alarm bells rang when Northland beat Canterbury first up, but it wasn't until they upended a star-studded Harbour outfit that everyone took notice.
Now Rowsell, the rock in the Northland defence, is keen to nail the message home.
"When we first started looking at who was available for Northland this year we started to get excited. Getting Jan (her sister Jan Rowsell) and then me pulling out of North Harbour was great but then we started to look around and thought `hey, we can do this'.
"We have got the team to go all the way. I know I'm a little bit nervous now when I think about it and, just seeing some of the older heads in the team like Tania Crene getting excited as well, it feels really good."
Rowsell is so fired up about how the Northland team have performed this year that she is even contemplating adjusting overseas travel plans next year to step up again.
But, for now, the focus is on the game tomorrow and the critical semifinal on Saturday.
If Northland can beat Central tomorrow they will jump from third on the table to first and leave Harbour to play Wellington in one semifinal. But either way they know they have that semifinal to look forward to.
The Northland men played Central today and are likely to play them again for the wooden spoon in the men's championship on Sunday.