Tamaki steal win in extra time thriller

Waikato's Kayla Wilson tries to get the ball around Tamaki's Cherie Romero in the wahine semifinal at Gonville Domain yesterday. PHOTO / BEVAN CONLEY

In 22 years some of the country's strongest Maori hockey players have made a beeline to their own national tournament and Labour Weekend was Wanganui's chance to host them for the first time.

Aotearoa national Maori hockey tournament 2013 was held from Friday to yesterday at the Gonville Domain and the Wanganui Collegiate hockey turf.

There were 14 rohe or regional teams taking part, seven each of wahine (women) and tane (men) for about 280 players in all.

Among the ranks were NHL players, former Black Sticks and members of the New Zealand Under-18 team.

"The level of the hockey is really high," said chairperson Johnson Hamahona adding that people were saying this tournament showed a particularly high level of skill.

Hamahona said Peter Miskimmin, the former Black Stick and chief executive of Sparc (now Sport NZ), had been watching his three sons play in the tournament and commented how surprised he was at the level of skill on show.

The women's final yesterday afternoon was a thriller, coming down to golden goal extra time between Tamaki and Waiariki.

Tamaki prevailed after the 2-2 deadlock at the fulltime.

At press time, the men's teams of those same two regions were gearing up for their championship match.