Northland's hockey teams have had a less than ideal start to their national under-21 tournaments in Whangarei this week.
The women's side had the best result on the opening day with a 3-1 loss to North Harbour, Northland's silver lining coming from the stick of Jade McLeod.
The Northland womenhad the chance to get even as they took on fellow first-game losers Capital last night, but the result wasn't in time to make the Northern Advocate's deadline. Check tomorrow's newspaper for the result.
The Northland men's team had a far less than ideal start with two heavy losses at the hands of Canterbury [9-2] and Southern. Against Canterbury on Sunday, Elliot Bartholomew was the lucky scorer as the other came in the form of an own goal.
Today sees Northland's men's and women's team play in the evening, with 6.30 and 6 o'clock starts. Other matches not involving Northland start from noon.
Tomorrow is a rest day for all teams before getting into cross-over matches from Thursday to Saturday.
Hockey Northland chief executive officer Grant McLeod said he hoped there would be just as much support from Northlanders this week as there was when the Black Sticks hit town.
The hockey is tipped to give Northland's economy a $300,000 to $400,000 boost.
