Inline hockey cream rolls into town

JUBILANT BUNCH: The Wanganui Lightning United team are a happy bunch after finishing third at the inline nationals.

The cream of New Zealand's inline hockey fraternity roll into Whanganui this weekend for the Inter Regional Championships at the Jubilee Stadium.

Hosted by the Lower North region, the championship has attracted over 350 of New Zealand's top inline hockey players vying for spots on national teams to compete in overseas tournaments next year.

The Labour Weekend championships will enable Inline Hockey New Zealand to select its National age group sides.

A multitude of age grades form Under 10, Under 21, Junior Women, Senior Woman, Masters and Veterans will be contested by the Northern, Central and Lower North regions.
Also on display will be an Open League competition where the elite Men and Women are combined into teams to provide a spectacle of high grade competition.

Junior grades are contested in the morning sessions with the senior grades contested in the afternoon and evening sessions. Games start on Friday at midday. Saturday, Sunday and Monday from 7am with games concluding each night at midnight. Admission is free.

Local players from the Wanganui Lightning United Inline Hockey Club participating in Lower North teams are Joshua Ashworth (Under 21/ Open Men ), James O'Donnell, Kieran O'Donnell and Nathan Sergent (Senior Men/Open Men) and Sophie Walker (Senior Men/ Open Women).

Meanwhile, Wanganui Lightning United won the three round Lower North Regional Seasonal Open Senior grade competition ahead of Rimutaka Renegades and Levin Thunder before finishing third at the Nationals in Hamilton behind the Christchurch Snipers and the Rimutaka Renegades.

Lightning beat Levin Rebels 6-4 , Hamilton Devils 5-2 and Tauranga Mustangs 6-2 in pool play to qualify first in their pool. They then beat Tawa Typhoons 4-1 in the quarter final before losing 4-3 to Rimutaka Renegades in the semi-final. This was a closely fought game and was 3 all with 2 minutes to go.

The play-off for 3rd and 4th was against Levin Thunder and the score was a 3-1 victory for Lightning securing a bronze medal and their highest success at the Nationals in 8 years.