Hockey: Auckland, Midlands take NHL titles

Auckland's men made it a hat-trick of National Hockey League titles after beating Southern in a shootout today, while Midlands won the women's championship for the first time.

In a replay of last year's final, Auckland again proved too strong for the Southern side, who twice came from behind to force the game into extra time only to be undone in the climactic shootout at North Harbour Hockey Stadium.

After Auckland's Ryan Archibald made no mistake from the opening one-on-one opportunity, Black Sticks teammate Hugo Inglis put his shot wide to leave Southern playing catch-up. They failed to complete yet another comeback, losing 4-3 and leaving Inglis, the tournament's top scorer, looking dejected as he collected the tournament's most valuable player award.

There was no such drama in the women's section, with Midlands routing Capital 5-0 to win the K-Cup for the first time ever under the current NHL format. Black Stick Gemma Flynn and Shiloh Gloyn both notched doubles to easily take care of a Capital side who knocked out favourites Auckland.

The Auckland women eventually finished third, leaving the men to grab some glory for the province. They qualified for the semifinals as top seeds after six wins and one defeat in round robin play, before reaffirming their favouritism with a fast start in the final.

Auckland began with a high pressing approach which suffocated Southern and, while their circle defence initially coped, it seemed only a matter of time until Auckland found a hole. Sure enough, that arrived on the 10-minute mark when Sam Miskimmin found a small pocket of space and fired past Hamish McGregor on his stick side.

After weathering the storm and sustaining minimal damage, Southern came into the contest as the first half progressed, yet Devon Manchester remained relatively unoccupied in the Auckland goal.

It was hard to recall the young keeper having a save to make but, shortly after halftime, he was beaten by a deft touch from Jeremy Morris after Eddie Ockenden fired a cross to the far post.

With the scores level, the match became relatively bereft of goalmouth action until Auckland won the game's first penalty corner with 10 minutes to play.

Dwayne Rowsell put his side back out in front with a well worked flick, but Southern responded immediately through Jason Dungey to send the game to golden goal extra time.

With the stakes high and the teams playing with reduced numbers, extra time was played with an onus on avoiding defeat rather than chasing victory. It was an approach which saw both periods finish scoreless and left the Challenge Shield to be decided by the dreaded shootout.

In the women's final, Midlands dominated the first half, pouring in four goals thanks to a relentless midfield and clinical finishing in the attacking circle.

Renee Ashton opened the scoring with a powerful shot from the top of the circle following a cutting run from Flynn, and Midlands found themselves up 2-0 moments later with another brilliant solo effort from Flynn, who this time scored herself.

Gloyn capped a superb first half for the the team from Bay of Plenty, Counties Manukau and Waikato, scoring a double to put Midlands in complete control, before Flynn put the icing on the cake with her second goal of the day.