Six of the best in punishing schedule

A long, hard week of hockey awaits the Northland teams headed to Christchurch for the remaining matches of the 2009 National Hockey League.
Both Northland men and women's teams lost last weekend to star-studded North Harbour teams in round one of the NHL, and headed to Christchurch today  with much to prove in the six games before finals this week.
Men's captain Sam Webb said not only would the tournament be hard physically but so much rested on how mentally tough his relatively young and inexperienced troops were.
"We were pretty pleased with how we went last week ... North Harbour had seven Black Sticks in their side, which is most of the New Zealand team, so we were up against it. But we were in the game for the first 40 or 50 minutes before we dropped off in the last part," he said.
Northland's fitness let the side down, along with not finishing opportunities to score but the side dug deep against the Harbour boys and kept them scoreless for the first 20 minutes.
Harbour eventually won 6-1, but the score was not indicative of how well Northland played.
It was a similar story in the men's pre-NHL match against Midlands a few weeks ago, where Northland kept the defending champions to a 1-0 lead at halftime before the "wheels fell off" and Midlands scarpered to a 7-0 victory, Webb said.
While their confidence was not all that high after their pre-NHL matches, Webb said after the North Harbour game there was a growing optimism among the Northland side and a belief they could cause some upsets in the competition.
"If we can play for the whole 70 minutes we can compete with any team in the competition," he said.
With guest player Greg Paynter in goal, Northland's defence was bolstered against North Harbour, so much of the week's training sessions concentrated on shooting and finishing attempts at goal, Webb said.
Apart from midfielder Nick Binks who it was still undecided whether he should play due to a knee injury, the 18-man squad was full strength.
Binks would be assessed before the tournament started, Webb said.
Northland play Canterbury tomorrow, a side which has fared well in the past, while on Sunday, Northland would be tested by Midlands, last year's title winners and this year's pick to take out the 2009 tournament once again.
Meanwhile, the Northland women received a wake-up call last Saturday when they lost to North Harbour 4-2, following several promising wins in the leadup to their NHL campaign.
Failing to execute the game plan and basic errors  had Northland in hot water at Whangarei's ITM Rosvall Stadium.
"The loss opened their eyes to the fact the tournament is going to be tough, and that their pre-season results - although they were good and they played well - don't count for anything," women's coach Grant McLeod said.
McLeod said at this stage his team was full strength and ready for their first clash with Canterbury tomorrow, a team who look strong on paper, and Midlands on Sunday.
"The girls will have to front up individually and also collectively - it should prove to be an interesting week.
"In a tournament situation like this every team generally has a bad game and hopefully we have had ours," McLeod said.