North upbeat going into NHL

They may not be rated as even an outside chance for this year's National Hockey League, but that hasn't stopped the Northland men's team from their best build-up for the tournament in years.
The addition of the Black Sticks into the NHL mix this year will lift the competition's quality and Northland are determined not to be left in anyone's wake.
The team's coach Mike Delaney said a meeting at the end of last year's unsuccessful NHL campaign - when they finished last after an extra-time thriller - set the tone for a more professional and thorough preparation this season. "The players were fed up with last year's mediocre build-up, which led to a poor run in last year's NHL and that was a big motivator for us, as management staff, to see that (feedback) coming from the players," he said.
"Normally we've got to kick them to try to get them to be more serious but to hear that coming from the players made it easier to shape a better build-up this year."
An idea to enter the Intercity pre-season competition for Auckland and North Harbour clubs was enthusiastically taken up, 23 players participating in the March tournament. The team's assistant coach Vicki Gribble said an open invitation to premier grade players to participate was two pronged - to give NHL players a head start and to try to raise the level of the premier grade club competition in Whangarei.
"The standard of our club competition needs to improve if we want to improve our NHL standing so we've had a look at that and we're hitting it from several different angles this year," she said.
Another bonus for the players was having technical coaching from Grant McLeod and Bevan Gibbs at practice sessions. "The experience of playing other teams that play a more modern type of game was good. Of course not all of them did, but it was a worthwhile pre-season competition," Gribble said.
Delaney and captain Sam Webb think the side already has a better balance this year. "I definitely think we've got a better squad this year with Ivo (Rongen) and some older guys coming back and Dave Samuels back in the region and also with Shay Neal deciding to return to play for us," Delaney said. Having one Black Stick in the squad would give the squad a psychological edge when it came to facing some of the teams sure to be laden with internationals.
"The New Zealand coach (Shane McLeod) thought it would be a good thing - and it sure is for us - because all the New Zealand guys have to come back and play this year to be eligible for the World Cup so we should be able to pick up some quality imports who have missed out on selection for their own provinces," Webb said.
The team will also get more pre-season games by entering the Taupo provincial tournament in July.
The tournament features teams from North Harbour, Auckland, Midlands, Central and Wellington and until this year there hasn't been the support from team members to attend.
"Already there's a better feeling in the squad, we're not going through the motions - the players are serious about playing this year and that's good because the effort has got to come from them," Delaney said.
The coach will name his initial 12-player squad later this week which coincides with the squad doubling their training sessions to two a week.
Webb said another change for the team was increased competition for places - nowhere more apparent than among the goalkeepers.
"We've got three keepers all fighting for the number-one spot which is certainly different from the last couple of years," he said.
Adam Rafferty, Sam Davidson and James Bailey will slug it out for one position in the original squad, with the possibility of two local keepers making the final squad.
Competition for places has meant the decision on the final make-up of the original squad has been delayed until after training tonight.
Northland training squad: Adam Rafferty, Sam Davidson, James Bailey, Cam Hellier, Courtney Keep, Chad Cahalane, Daniel Hammet, Dave Adams, David Samuels, Henry Cooper, Ian Page, Ivo Rongen, John Child, Keeley Johnson, Strachan McLeod, Sam Webb, Sean Laidlaw, Josh Rapana, Nick Breslin, Alex Nicholson.