KEY POINTS:
After 140 internationals, New Zealand's most experienced hockey goalkeeper, Paul Woolford, has called it quits.
Woolford, "Hairy" to his teammates, played at two Olympics, two Commonwealth Games, two World Cups and the 2004 Champions Trophy.
But he says another Commonwealth Games - New Delhi in 2010 - is
"one bridge too far for an old dog".
Losing Sunday's National Hockey League final to Midlands was a bitter disappointment for Woolford, who had hoped to finish his illustrious career on a high.
"But, you don't always get what you want in sport," said the goalie, who has filled a couple of passports with trips to all the major hockey-playing nations.
He had been prepared to give Black Sticks coach Shane McLeod "another year" but given the two-year cycle of the sport at that level - for World Cups and Olympic Games - he decided to give it away.
"Basically, it is the end of the road," said Woolford, 31, who has also been in three Auckland NHL-winning teams.
"I will continue playing club hockey while my mates are still around but that's it for Auckland and New Zealand."
Woolford played his first game as a 12-year-old and in all bar one since he has been goalkeeper.
He had his first taste of international hockey in 1999 when he went to Australia as Scott Anderson's understudy, although he did not play, then took over from him not long after, against Great Britain when Anderson was injured.
From then he made the cage his own, although at times he shared the goalkeeping duties with Kyle Pontifex who is now on about 70 internationals.
Woolford remembers those early days well, but not fondly.
"It was quite upsetting when we didn't qualify for Sydney at the Olympic qualifying tournament in Osaka," said Woolford.
"I was fresh into the team but we didn't make it. We had our chances against Poland and should have won but we couldn't score. I felt bad for a couple of months, not so much for myself but for everyone else.
"After that, I was really lucky to be in a team that qualified for everything." He won silver at the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games and played in Melbourne four years later.
He played at the Athens and Beijing Olympics and World Cups in Malaysia and Germany and the Champions Trophy in Pakistan.
In his time with the national squad, his coaches have included Robin Wilson, Kevin Towns and now McLeod, but he rates his club coach, and fellow international, Peter Daji as the best he has worked with.
"He had a good understanding of what ticks in and around the goal circle."
Woolford says he is working things through with McLeod in the hope of lending a hand in working with emerging talent.
Woolford rates Black Sticks defender, and current player of the year, defender Blair Hopping, as the best he has played with.
