Northland's Black Sticks back home

Northland Women welcomed their Black Sticks back into the fold as the squad ramp up preparations for their fast approaching National Hockey League campaign.
Coach Alan Lints has put the Northland Women through their paces in the past couple of months, but this week the squad trained at nearly full strength with the addition of the Northland-originated Black Sticks - Charlotte Harrison, Anna Thorpe, Stacey Michelsen, Alana Millington, Ella Gunson - back from their bronze medal-winning performance at the Champions Trophy in Amsterdam.
Northland have already played two build-up matches ahead of the NHL and lost to North Harbour 2-1, followed by a loss to Auckland 3-1.
Black Stick Laura Douglas and Rana Vette provided experience to the Northland team while the Champions Trophy players were away, along with development players Carli Michelsen and Jasmin McQuinn.
Despite the losses, the team showed huge potential and this was without the majority of their national representatives. Adding them in the mix was an exciting prospect for Lints.
"We have our Black Sticks back and had a great session on Monday. It was great to see them and all trained very hard," he said.
Under a new Hockey New Zealand ruling, all players have to make themselves available to play for their province in the 2011 NHL to be eligible for selection in next year's national squads. It is something contending players do not want to miss with the London Olympics looming in 2012, and the push for selection would be fierce.
This year's NHL will feature the best of the best players. On paper, Northland is shaping up strongly, with only the two New South Wales strikers Emma Cobbin and Jess Esslemont still to join the team just before the tournament. Esslemont will arrive on July 27, in time for the whole tournament starting on July 30-31, while Cobbin will arrive a week later to play the rest of the tournament in Wellington, from August 6-14.
After a rest from pre-tournament games last weekend, the Northland team head back to the action with two games this weekend.
Their first clash this weekend is against Canterbury, at North Harbour tonight , from 7.30pm. "Obviously Canterbury's turf has been decimated by the quake. It is the first time our Black Sticks will play. We won't be giving too much away as I am sure the Auckland and Harbour coaches will be watching," Lints said, who is trying to improve on Northland's fifth place at the NHL last year.
The coach added he would rest the under-18 contingent within the squad - Melissa Simpson and Elley Millar - as they are part of the Northland under-18 team contesting the National Under-18 Tournament, in Wellington next week.
Tomorrow the team will have an important team bonding session at the paint ball zone, followed by a game on Sunday against Midlands, at Whangarei's Rosvall ITM hockey Stadium, from noon. Both Midlands and Canterbury finished in the top four last year and were likely to be strong teams again, Lints said.
Meanwhile, Northland Men's next pre-tournament clash is not until next Sunday, against Midlands at North Harbour.