Hockey: Gutted Black Stick raring to go as Premier League hits Napier

At least five Hawke’s Bay Black Sticks, including one overcoming being “gutted” by missing the Paris Olympics, could make rare collective appearances in their home region as a new national Premier Hockey League (PHL) comes to Napier on Saturday.

Hawke’s Bay women’s Black Sticks defender Kaitlin Cotter. Photo / Doug Laing

Former Napier Girls’ High School pupil Kaitlin Cotter, who at the age of 22 has played 32 internationals since a debut as a teenager, told Hawke’s Bay Today of her disappointment as she prepared for the league in a training hub at Park Island Hockey Stadium, where the Central Falcons play northern sides the Tridents in round two of the six-week, home-and-away, men’s and women’s double-headers.

The women play this week at 2pm, the men at 4pm.

She’s overcome the disappointment of the women’s Black Sticks’ failure in January to qualify for Paris, but says it was “tough”.

“A lot of us struggled watching it,” the defender said after returning from overseas for the challenge of the new league, designed to give players a new level of opportunity between association representative level and internationals.

“Seeing the boys playing was cool, but realising we could have been there and beating some of the teams was pretty gutting.”

Now she’s looking forward to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics and says: “We’ve got a good mixture of experience and young ones, and a few more young ones are getting some of the experience they need in this competition.”

She plans to be there in the rebuilding of the team heading towards “LA”, her commitment based on a decision she made choosing between sports in her late teens.

“I decided I’m really going to give it a go,” says Cotter.

She played in the opening PHL 3-0 win over southern side the Alpiners in Dunedin on Saturday, and the team is further enhanced by fellow Black Stick Olivia Shannon’s return this week from playing in the UK.

Meanwhile, Falcons men’s coach Graeme Findlay confirmed Sam Hiha and Olympic Games goalkeeper Dominic Dixon have become available to join rising hope and fellow Hawke’s Bay player Black Stick Jonty Elmes in his team to be named tomorrow.

Elmes, who turns 20 at the weekend and who scored seven goals in a future-focused two-tournaments, 12-matches introduction to the Black Sticks tournament matches pre-Olympics earlier this year, but also had to overcome some disappointment in not getting to the Olympics, scored the Falcons men’s only goal in a 6-1 loss to the Alpiners in Dunedin.

The last time the top Hawke’s Bay men’s Black Sticks were together in the Bay was for a pre-Olympics camp at the squad’s Nations Cup triumph in Poland.

Playing the Canterbury-based Mavericks in Auckland on Saturday, the Tridents men were beaten 4-3 in a penalty shootout after a 2-2 tie at the end of regulation time, and the Tridents women beat their Mavericks opposition 6-0.

Doug Laing is a senior reporter based in Napier with Hawke’s Bay Today, and has 51 years of journalism experience, 40 of them in Hawke’s Bay, in news gathering, including breaking news, sports, local events, issues, and personalities.