Hawke’s Bay hopes in Black Sticks hockey World Cup bid

Sam Hiha as a teenager at Park Island in 2016, a Central Mavericks and New Zealand under-21 hockey squad member. Now he's one of three players from Hawke's Bay in India for a Black Sticks World Cup campaign. Photo / NZME

A New Zealand men’s Black Sticks hockey side with a big Hawke’s Bay influence is about to face one of its biggest challenges in the 15th FIH Men’s World Cup which has opened in India.

Hawke’s Bay players in the side are Auckland-based Sam Hiha, aged 25 and a grandson of late women’s hockey legend Margaret Hiha, Hawke’s Bay-based Sean Findlay, 21, and goalie Dom Dixon, 26.

In charge as head-coach is former veteran South Africa representative Greg Nicol who arrived in Hawke’s Bay in 2007 and moved to Auckland after he was appointed to the role in 2021.

Nicol “still calls Hawke’s Bay home,” according to Hawke’s Bay Hockey general manager Strahan McIntosh.

The 16-team tournament’s official opening was on Wednesday in Rourkela, in the state of Odisha and where ninth-ranked the Black Sticks open their three-match Pool C campaign on Saturday night against No 22-ranked Chile.

On Monday (10.30pm) it plays 2018 cup beaten finalist and current No 3-ranked The Netherlands, also in Rourkela, and on Wednesday (8.30pm) No 11-ranked Malaysia in Bhubaneswar.

The winners of each pool qualify for the quarterfinals, while second and third placegetters each face a crossover match to claim the other places in the quarterfinals, to be played on January 24-25. The final and third-fourth playoff will be on January 29.

In ten World Cup campaigns the best result has been seventh place, in 1973, 1975, 1982 and 2014, and at the last Cup tournament in 2018, also in India, New Zealand was ninth, with a win over France, a draw with Spain and two losses.

The Black Sticks men, qualifying as one of just two teams in the most-recent Oceania Cup, had just three wins in 15 matches in 2022, but started well at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in July, drawing with Scotland and beating Pakistan, before being beaten 7-2 by World No 1 Australia. They were then edged out of the medal race in a 3-4 loss to South Africa but finished with a 2-1 win over Wales to claim fifth place.

The Black Sticks return from the Cup tournament for Pro League matches in Wellington in late February, against China and USA, and two more in April, against Great Britain and Australia, in Christchurch.

Hiha, a former Napier Boys High School pupil, who has played 18 matches for the Black Sticks but missed a spot at the Tokyo Olympics, is one of a five-strong strikers arsenal.

Speaking to Hawke’s Bay Today from Rourkela, the team is not worried at lacking the profile of such other New Zealand sports sides as the All Blacks or the Black Caps.

He said the team knows its put in the effort to achieve results, and it’s “pretty special” personally to have the added motivation of continuing the family legacy as a national representative in hockey championships.

He will be thinking of them all back home, with few team supporters travelling to India where the capacity for the Rourkela stadium is about 20,000.

McIntosh said it’s great to have such a strong Hawke’s Bay representation at the tournament, with history, despite results of the last two years, showing the Black Sticks are capable of “catching anyone by surprise” and moving into serious medal contention.

“As a community we are really excited for the guys and we hope for all the best,” he said.

The Black Sticks:

Dom Dixon, Leon Hayward, Blair Tarrant, Dane Lett, Nic Woods (captain), Charlie Morrison, Nick Ross, Simon Yorston, Kane Russell, Aidan Sarikaya, Hayden Phillips, Sean Findlay, Joe Morrison, Kim Kingstone, Sam Lane, Jake Smith, Sam Hiha, Simon Child | Travelling reserves: Connor Greentree, David Brydon.