Top young players heading north for tourney

For the second time in under a month, Northlanders will have the chance to witness top hockey on our home turf.

From tomorrow, New Zealand's top regional under-21 teams will battle it out in what Hockey Northland chief executive officer Grant McLeod describes as being a "flow-on from the Four Nations".

McLeod said he hoped there would be just as much support from Northlanders as there was when the Black Sticks came to town, adding that the coming week's tournament was second only to the National Hockey League in relation to importance within hockey in New Zealand.

"I'd be hopeful that the people who came to the Black Sticks games [last month] would wander on down and see some more hockey," McLeod said. "Particularly those who haven't seen much hockey.

"The boys' hockey will be very quick, so really it's a flow-on from the Four Nations.

"So, we'd hope the people who were excited from that would make an appearance [at this week's tournament]."

McLeod said while the Four Nations tournament were first to test out the recently repaired turf, the real motivator for getting it renewed was for the under-21 tournament seeing as the $1million set aside for a new third turf was withdrawn by the Whangarei District Council.

It is expected the tournament will bring with it a $300,000 to $400,000 boost to Northland's economy. This year will be only the second year that Northland has competed in the tournament after an absence of around 20 years.