Vette marks 200 games for North

Tarannah Vette became the third woman to reach 200 games for Northland when she played against Central in the National Hockey League. Northland stalwart Tarannah Vette donned the Cambridge blue kit for the 200th time to face a hungry Central side at the National Hockey League in Christchurch.
Last night, Vette became the third Northland woman to reach the elite milestone - Vicki Gribble and Donna Ford the only others to precede her  feat.
While gutted at losing 2-1 to Central in the final seconds of the game, Vette said reaching 200 matches for Northland left her feeling quite chuffed.
"I feel really proud," the centre half said after the match.
"I was trying to play it down but I got flowers today, millions of text messages ... it's like my birthday - actually better than my birthday," the 37-year-old said.
Vette first represented Northland premier women's side aged 18 after stepping up from the under-21 side. While Black Sticks honours have eluded her, Vette did play for New Zealand A in 1990 and she was part of the NZ Masters winning side at the 2007 World Championships.
Vette has been named Northland hockey sportswoman of the year twice - and she has given back to her sport, coaching the under-16 Northland side to win a national title this year.
Her club side Old Girls had a stellar season in 2009, which they capped off by winning the Premier Women's title.
The biggest kick she got from 20 years of playing hockey for Northland was meeting and competing with so many different people, she said.
While many players relocated and represented other provinces to better their hockey, Vette said she was never tempted to swap from Northland. "I'm totally loyal - a lot of girls have played NHL hockey for other provinces but I've always stayed with Northland, and I guess that helped me get to 200 games."
And she hasn't ruled out extending her run with the Northland women, should she be required.
While confident of making the top four heading into the NHL tournament at Christchurch's Porritt Park, Vette said  Northland women had performed below their expectations and were more likely to play off for fifth or sixth after their loss to Central. "It was a very tough game and it was 1-1 for most of it until they got a penalty corner in the last 30 seconds."
Central's Kayla Sharland scored first then Jade McLeod equalised after halftime but a "disputable penalty corner" was awarded to Central and Sharland  scored her second goal  to seal the match.
Meanwhile, Northland men played defending champions Midlands yesterday  on the back of their first win on Sunday against Southern.
Northland struggled against Midlands' - were down 4-0 at halftime and conceded another two goals in the second half to go down 6-0.
Coach Vicki Gribble said despite the less than impressive play from her troops they were still committed and in with a sniff at the tournament as long as they  won every game from now on.
Both Northland teams have a much-needed rest day today.  The women will face a tough Auckland side at 12pm tomorrow,  while the men are also back in action, against Central at 1pm.
Results
Women: Central 2 (Kayla Sharland 2) Northland 1 (Jade McLeod) HT: 1-0.
Midlands 3  Wellington 2,  North Harbour 4  Southern 1,  Auckland 2  Canterbury 0. 
Men: Midlands 6 (Hugo Inglis 2, Lincoln Churchill 2, Andy Hayward, Selvaraju Sandrakasi) Northland 0 HT: 4-0.
Southern 4  Auckland 3,  North Harbour 7  Central 0, Wellington  2 Canterbury 1.