Midlands teams reach semifinals

PLAYOFFS: The Midlands men's and women's teams are both through to the semifinal stage at the National Hockey League in Auckland. Pictured are local Midlands players (from left) Hoete Mitai-Ngatai, Stacey MacDonald and Oriwa Hepi. BEN FRASER 280814BF13

The Midlands men's and women's hockey teams have qualified for the semifinals at the 2014 Ford National Hockey League.

The two representative sides, which boast plenty of Rotorua hockey players this year, will play their semifinal matches in Auckland today. The Midlands men's team will play Canterbury while the Midlands women's team will play Auckland.

The final for both competitions will be played tomorrow.

Midlands men's team played Canterbury last Saturday and defeated them 3-2 in a thrilling match-up, which will give them a bit of confidence going into their semifinal.

The men's team boast five players who grew up playing their hockey in Rotorua including Hoete Mitai-Ngatai, Tatai Dewes, Leo Mitai-Wells, Connor Herewini and Jonty Keaney.

The Midlands team also boast an Australian international Tim Deavin, who played in the hockey world cup final earlier this year.

The Midlands women's team will play Auckland today, in their semifinal, as they look to defend their title from last season.

It will be a tough task for the Midlands women's side who finished fourth after the round-robin stage.

Auckland finished top after the round-robin stage and also defeated Midlands 2-0 last Saturday.

The Midlands women's team has two players from Rotorua: former Black Stick Stacey MacDonald and Oriwa Hepi.

The 2014 Ford National Hockey League is the equivalent of the ITM Cup in New Zealand.