Men's hockey finalists fail to inspire in lead-up games

The two top-rated teams will meet in the the men's premier hockey final next week but neither Maungakaramea nor Springfield were convincing in semifinal wins on Saturday.
Maungakaramea squeaked past Mangapai 3-1 in their match after looking as though they might run away with the game in its opening moments.
Sam Webb latched on to a defensive mistake and smacked a backhand shot centimetres wide of goal in the second minute as his side started well with the lion's share of possession.
But despite having plenty of experience on the turf and a very strong bench, Maungakaramea seemed short of ideas on the ball and Mangapai crept back into the game with some well structured play.
They earned two penalty corners but their best scoring chance of the first spell was when Josh Rapana was put through on goal only to be denied by Maungakaramea keeper Jareth Cocking who made a great save.
Maungakaramea went ahead in the 16th minute but the goal was anything but a classic.
A penalty corner went badly wrong and Nathan Lugtigheid picked up the ball on the right flank and did well to get a good cross into the circle that Webb pounced on and deflected into the net.
Mangapai came straight back and had the better of the remaining minutes of the first half with central defender Carlo Aprea dominating the Maungakaramea attack and it was no surprise when they equalised six minutes before the break.
Dean Gibson threaded a great ball through to Michael Delaney in the crowded goalmouth, and he beat Cocking with his shot.
Maungakaramea started the second spell like the first, putting their opponents under pressure and forcing two quick penalty corners.
They went ahead after some outstanding work on the ball by Webb, who took the ball into the right side of the circle and then crossed to Vaughan Gillingham, who deflected the ball into the net.
Mangapai weren't finished and forged some chances to equalise but the defence of Northland's NHL captain John Child stood out as his side held under pressure.
Maungakaramea finished off the spirited Mangapai challenge with less than five minutes to go.
Fidel Nicholson had been on the turf for less than 30 seconds, coming off the bench to knock the ball into the net and seal the result.
Springfield had a draw and a loss in their most recent encounters against Bream Bay and struggled to a 2-1 win in the first semifinal on Saturday.
Both teams defended strongly
It was a fairly even first half with Rowan Vendt scoring a confidence-boosting goal for Springfield just seconds before the end of the spell.
Despite missing a couple of their regular players, Bream Bay continued to play well in the second half.
But Springfield looked sharper in front of goal and Vendt scored a screamer to double their lead.
He received a ball from Dion Watts with his back to goal on the edge of the circle, turned well, shrugging off the challege of a defender and drilled the ball past the Bream Bay keeper.
With 15 minutes to go Bream Bay forced their way back into the game with a Mark Nightingale goal but weren't able to capitalise on their numerical advantage when Springfield lost two players to yellow cards in the closing moments of the game.