Next week's tour to Australia could also be the end of an era for three of Tauranga's brightest hockey stars, giving them extra motivation for beating the Ockers in their own backyard.
Tauranga Girls' College midfielder/defender Nicky McCool and Bethlehem College duo Hannah Marshall and Rosie Keddell have been picked in the New Zealand under-18 girls' side for three tests against the Aussies and two warm-up games. They leave next Monday at 3am and will be on the turf at Canberra's Australian Institute of Sport late that afternoon for their first training session.
All three were in the Tauranga under-18 team which reached the semifinals at the national tournament at Wellington in July, losing 1-0 to Auckland, and they also played for Midlands under-18 and under-21 this season, finishing second at the under-21 nationals. They were selected in a 30-strong trial squad after Tauranga's effort in Wellington and were put through their paces during a gruelling four days in Christchurch before 10 players were culled.
Keddell, who played for New Zealand under-17 at last year's Youth Olympics in Singapore, sat out most of the trial with torn ligaments in her thumb, doing only the fitness testing.
"It was pretty good watching everyone else do all the hard work," she laughed, "but frustrating also because potentially, by not playing in the three trial games, I was giving up a spot in the team. It was a bit of a nervous wait to see what they thought but they already had a good idea about everyone's abilities from the nationals."
McCool said there'd been some good tussles this season between her Tauranga Girls' College first XI and Bethlehem's top team, with no love lost on the turf amongst the rep trio.
Which 1st XI finished the season with bragging rights is unclear.
"Whenever our schools played each other this year we were pretty much tied every time," said McCool, to howls of protest from Keddell and Marshall, adamant Bethlehem College boasted the superior armarda this season.
Bethlehem won the third tier Chica Gilmer national tournament, earning promotion to the second level next year, while McCool went to the Federation Cup tier one tournament with Tauranga Girls but missed half the games after breaking her thumb.
She said it always a good laugh playing against Keddell and Marshall, with very little they didn't know about each other's games.
"We've played together for so long there's no secrets and we know all the tricks. Rose and me clash in the middle a bit and I always know she goes from left to right when she's got the ball.
"And you push the ball through the legs," Marshall retorted.
Next week's trip could be the end of the line for the trio as far as playing together. McCool is heading to Otago to study law and environmental management, Marshall is tackling a bachelor of arts majoring in communications and psychology at Canterbury while Keddell is taking a year out, travelling overseas and possibly linking for a month with a club side in Germany.
It's likely they'll renew their rivalry - this time with Marshall and Keddell on different teams - at the national under-21 tournament next winter. There's also the possibility their trip to Canberra could be the start of a new future in the junior and senior Black Sticks set-up.
"This squad is a target squad and the next stage beyond this is junior Blacks Sticks, so they're kind of paving a path for us into that," Keddell said. Once you reach this level you know you're being looked at for the next level."
The 17-year-olds have had to organise their own trainings in Tauranga, fitting around Year 13 exams, but don't know how much of a disadvantage the national under-18 squad's lack of time together will be once they get to Australia.
"Our coach is Australian," McCool said, "and he's worked with their teams before. He says we're more skilful but the Australians are stronger and better athletes."