Women off to strong start

Now that the butterflies will be out of the stomachs, the Northland men's and women's hockey teams have plenty of work ahead of them.

Over the next week the teams will be in North Harbour completing the National Hockey League (NHL), starting today.

The Northland women's team got themselves off to a strong start with two wins from two games last weekend.

The girls picked up a 2-1 win over North Harbour in Whangarei last Saturday before backing it up with an upset 3-1 win over Auckland - a side which featured more national squad members, along with Northlanders Sam Harrison, Charlotte Harrison, and Jan Rowsell.

Incoming Northland women's coach Angeline Waetford was obviously happy with the cracker of a start.

"It's a perfect start to the league ... would have been pretty upset if we hadn't won against Harbour [but against Auckland] I would have been happy to have just taken a point off them."

For Waetford what has helped transform the team, which finished seventh last year, is the inclusion of current and former Black Sticks players.

"They're pretty much a self-coaching team, they keep communicating what they need to do better out there, it's very fun to work with.

"Having players the calibre of Stacey [Michelsen], Ella [Gunson], Jasmin McQuinn, and Laura Douglas coming in makes a big difference."

However, their male counterparts have not had the same cracker start - meaning they have plenty of work to do this week in Auckland.

The men's team went down 5-2 to a Black Stick-stacked North Harbour team in Whangarei before being taught a lesson by Auckland as the big city players romped home 8-1.

First up for the men's team are Capital, who they play today at 1pm.