Women may draw to a halt

Three consecutive draws have left Northland Women bitterly disappointed with only one round left to play before playoffs at the National Hockey League Tournament.
"We're not losing games, we just are not winning," Northland coach Alan Lints said after round six of the tournament, based at North Harbour Hockey Stadium.
The women sit in fifth spot, and with just one game left to play today against Capital before Saturday's semifinals, it is unlikely Northland will have enough points to progress to the top four, Lints said.
"So our goal now, has to be to finish fifth which is still better than last year's seventh place - but it is so disappointing for the girls, who feel like a draw is as good as a loss."
On Sunday, Northland drew with last year's champions Central 2-2, before drawing 1-1 with Canterbury on Monday, and 1-1 with Southern yesterday. "For three games in a row we have dominated possession and created opportunities but are just not finding the back of the goal ... the girls are doing everything right and not playing badly - it's very frustrating."
Instead of three points for a win, they have had to settle for a point for every draw, leaving them outside the top four of Canterbury, Midland, North Harbour and Auckland.
Some positives have surfaced over the past few days, the coach said.
"Table leaders Canterbury were confident they were going to win against us on Monday and the girls took it to them, firing balls at the woodwork, just past the posts but it would not go in the goal. Canterbury came away happy to draw ... another thing which is pleasing as a coach is the girls have aspired to great levels and they are annoyed at themselves to draw. In previous years, the team would have been happy to draw."
Meanwhile, this year's tournament has been a hard slog for the Rosvall ITM Northland Men, who have not won a game and are holding up the ladder. After Sunday's 3-1 loss to Midlands, they faced Southern on Monday.
Southern come out 5-3 victors in the entertaining, fast-paced contest.
After leading 2-1 at halftime, Chris Ashton, Jared Jones and Kane Russell scored second-half goals to guide Southern through. Duncan Pearce, Josh Miller and Sean Laidlaw scored for Northland.
Yesterday, Pearce impressed for Northland, scoring both goals during their hard fought 4-2 loss to Capital. Northland Women play Capital at 11.30am today, while the men play Canterbury at 2pm - both at North Harbour Hockey Stadium.