KEY POINTS:
The final cut has been made for the men's and women's Olympic hockey teams but the fallout might take longer to clear.
The three major talking points following the selections were:
* The omission of veteran striker Bevan Hari from the men's squad.
* The omission of 18-year-old
starlet Charlotte Harrison from the women's squad.
* The selection of two specialist goalkeepers in each team.
There seems little doubt the third point contributed to the two omissions, although it is possible 17-year-old Palmerston North striker Nick Wilson would have been next on the men's list rather than the 33-year-old Hari.
New rules for this year's Olympics have made it possible to replace players who are injured during the tournament. Two accredited players from outside the 16-strong squads can be on call in Beijing in the event of injury, though they have to stay outside the village. In Athens, the squads were 18 strong but no replacement players were permitted.
The rules have convinced many of the top teams to do away with the usual practice of having two specialist keepers, regarded by most pundits as a luxury in a small squad, and instead have one on call if needed.
Men's coach Shane McLeod was thought to be in favour of this approach but because the costs for players staying outside the village would have to be picked up by Hockey New Zealand, he was not given this option and therefore Kyle Pontifex and Paul Woolford made the squad.
That has meant no room for either Wilson or Hari, the latter understood to be particularly disappointed with both the way he found out about his omission and the fact his international career has ended not with the high of the Olympics but with the pain of missed selection.
Hari, with 211 caps during more than a decade, was contacted by the Herald on Sunday but was reluctant to talk about his situation until he has had a chance to clear the air with McLeod, though he did say he was disappointed because "I had my heart set on it".
Harrison's non-selection was even more shocking.
One current international who did not want to be named said it was crazy to suggest Harrison was not one of the two best strikers in the country.
Another spoken to backed up that assessment and said the decision must have come down to compatibility with coach Kevin Towns.
"It's been nearly three years since I first got in and to be in the team for that long and get dropped in the final moment came as a huge surprise," Harrison told the Northern Advocate on Friday.
"I was told I was playing well in China [on the Black Sticks' recent tour], which is why I wasn't really expecting it ... nothing was said to me and no reasons behind it were given," Harrison said.
Towns outlined his reasons on the Hockey New Zealand website.
"It really came down to her and Gemma [Flynn, another 18-year-old] and they had a fair old battle over in China.
"At the the end of the day, we were looking at the effect that one player had over the other on a game and unfortunately for Lotte, Gemma came out on top," Towns said.
Harrison had been with the team throughout its Olympic build-up after first gaining selection as a 16-year-old in 2006, immediately impressing against an Australian line-up.
