Hockey: Revised format rewards losers

New Zealand captain Kayla Sharland (right) is not impressed with the new format being introduced at the Champions Trophy in Argentina. Photo / Paul Estcourt

New Zealand would be a major beneficiary if the Black Sticks carry their form of last week through but they are not fans of a revised format that appears to reward mediocrity at the upcoming Champions Trophy women's hockey tournament in Argentina.

In a departure from recent tournaments, all eight teams competing at the Champions Trophy, starting tomorrow, will qualify for the quarter-finals after their three pool games.

The top side in each pool will play the fourth-placed team in the other pool with the second and third-placed teams also squaring off for a place in the semifinals.

It means a team that loses all three pool games can still win the tournament if they win their final three games.

At previous Champions Trophies, the top two teams from each pool were grouped together to decide the medals while the bottom four teams played off to determine final placings.

The FIH are trialling a different system with the aim this year of settling on one and locking it in for all future tournaments in both men's and women's hockey.

The one being used at the Champions Trophy is seen as more user-friendly for fans who might otherwise struggle with top-four, bottom-four permutations.

Black Sticks captain Kayla Sharland doesn't like the format, even though her side lost all four of their warm-up games last week at a Four Nations tournament.

"I'm not a huge fan," she said, from Argentina. "I don't think it develops consistency because we saw at the Champions Challenge last year when [the US] lost all their [pool] games but still made the final, so it's a little bit odd. If you're in that situation, it's a good thing but we just want to work on being more consistent rather than relying on that way to get into finals. If it goes that way, obviously we will be happy.

"The previous format was fair. You had to be consistent to make the top two.

"This one, teams might not show anything in the last two games [to keep things under wraps] so it's fun and games, really."

The past week hasn't been particularly enjoyable for the Black Sticks. They were beaten by Argentina (7-3 and 3-2), Korea (6-4) and Great Britain (2-0) at the Four Nations tournament, when the fact they hadn't played a competitive match since October was badly exposed.

It was a difficult experience for a side that finished third at last year's Champions Trophy and have high hopes of picking up a medal at this year's London Olympics.

"Structurally, we were all over the show," Sharland said. "We hadn't played a game since the Oceania Cup and that showed. We were scoring enough goals but we weren't keeping teams out. We were gutted with how we performed and were getting frustrated. Everyone walked away fairly disappointed. We felt we had gone back quite a bit, which is disappointing. We have tried to work on things we know work well and make sure we make changes, and are slowly getting to a place where we should be.

"The Olympics are at the back of our minds but we want to do as well as, if not better, than the last Champions Trophy to make progressions forward."

The sixth-ranked Black Sticks have drawn a tough pool alongside Argentina (ranked No 2), Germany (3) and Korea (8) and open their campaign against the hosts tomorrow.

Despite the generous format, they will want to avoid the top-ranked Netherlands in the quarter-finals and will ideally play China (5) or Japan (9).

Schedule

* Tomorrow, 12pm (NZT)
NZ v Argentina

* Monday, 9.30am
NZ v Korea

* Wednesday, 9.30am
NZ v Germany

* February 3-6 Playoffs

* New Zealand squad:

Kayla Sharland (c), Emily Naylor, Krystal Forgesson, Katie Glynn, Sally Rutherford, Alana Millington, Samantha Charlton, Clarissa Eshuis, Lucy Talbot, Rhiannon Dennison, Samantha Harrison, Cathryn Finlayson, Gemma Flynn, Sophie Devine, Charlotte Harrison, Bianca Russell, Stacey Michelsen, Anita Punt.