Auckland meet Harbour in Ford NHL final

Auckland are set to face off with North Habour in the mens Challenge Shield final at the Ford National Hockey League tomorrow.

Auckland scored two goals in the last 10 minutes to overcome hosts Capital Cobras 2-1 to progress to the gold medal match.

Capital opened at a high tempo and grabbed the advantage in just the third minute through a Sebastian Buddle field goal.

With time winding down, Auckland equalised in the 50th minute thanks to a Michael Ritchie field goal before Marcus Child pounced on a penalty corner deflection to take the lead just minutes later.

North Harbour booked their place against Auckland in the final at 3pm tomorrow, after a tight 2-1 win over the Southern Dogs in their semi final.

Cory Bennett had Harbour humming early through a fifth minute penalty corner drag flick before Kalyan Jeram opened a 2-0 buffer after a field goal midway through the second quarter.

Southern lifted after the break and pulled a goal back early in the second half after Lachie Davidson scored from the field.

Neither side could score again though throughout the half as Harbour held strong to win through to the final.

The Capital Cobras will now play the Southern Dogs for the Ford National Hockey League bronze medal at 11:00am.

The mens and womens bronze and gold medal matches will be live streamed on the Hockey New Zealand Facebook page, and in full high definition on YouTube.

The mens 5th/6th playoff will see Midlands tackle the Central Mavericks while the Canterbury Cavaliers and Northland clash to decide 7th/8th.

Midlands edged Canterbury 3-1 in a shoot-out after the score was level 3-3 at fulltime and Central Mavericks ran over Northland 10-0.

FINALS DAY MEDAL MATCHES

9:00am - TigerTurf North Harbour vs Auckland (Womens Bronze Medal)

11:00am - RICOH Capital Cobras vs Southern Dogs (Mens Bronze Medal)

1:00pm - Mark Cromie Holden Northland vs Bayleys Midlands (Womens K Cup Final)

3:00pm - Auckland vs TigerTurf North Harbour (Mens Challenge Shield Final)

CLICK HERE for more on the 2017 Ford National Hockey League

MENS SEMI FINAL RESULTS

Auckland beat RICOH Capital Cobras 2-1

Auckland: 2 (Michael Ritchie, Marcus Child)

RICOH Capital Cobras: 1 (Sebastian Buddle)

Halftime: Capital 1-0

TigerTurf North Harbour beat Southern Dogs 2-1

TigerTurf North Harbour: 2 (Cory Bennett, Kalyan Jeram)

Southern Dogs: 1 (Lachie Davidson)

Halftime: North Harbour 2-0

5th - 8th CLASSIFICATION RESULTS

Bayleys Midlands beat Canterbury Cavaliers 3-1 in shoot-out (3-3 at fulltime)

Canterbury Cavaliers: 3 (Sam Lane 2, Tom Mouldey)

Bayleys Midlands: 3 (Ben Tanner, Aidan Sarikaya, Leo Mitai-Wells)

Halftime: Canterbury 2-1

Central Mavericks beat printing.com Northland 10-0

Central Mavericks: 10 (Martin Atkinson 3, Nick Wilson 2, Hayden Phillips 2, Mitchell Cronin, Jordan Cohen, Dylan Thomas)

printing.com Northland: 0

Halftime: Central 4-0



- This story has been automatically published using a media release from Hockey NZ