National inline hockey championships in town
More than 50 of the best inline hockey clubs have descended on New Plymouth for the National Club Championships - with one group coming all the way from Hawaii.
Some 52 teams of all ages are competing in the event, which is being held at the Ravens inline hockey arena at East End Reserve.
‘‘This is the tournament all clubs want to win,’’ Ivan Wood, chairman of Inline Hockey New Zealand said.
‘‘Clubs are trying to put their best players forward to make an inter-regional tournament later in the year.’’
Wood said the standard of hockey in the tournament, which runs from September 30 to Sunday, October 8, was high and there had been a number of close games.
Quite a few Taranaki players are involved throughout the tournament and feature in several teams, including the New Zealand Ma¯ ori team, which played an exhibition game on Tuesday night against the visiting Hawaiian KIHA Warriors.
Wood said the Hawaiian team brought a different style and pace to games which was good for New Zealand teams to experience.
The Warriors came out to New Zealand after a successful trip by New Plymouth’s Ravens club to Hawaii in 2016.
Jami Yoder, from the KIHA Warriors, said they were enjoying being in Taranaki.
‘‘This is a great experience for our guys and it’s really great hockey, which helps,’’ he said.
It’s remarkable the tournament even went ahead. Four months ago the rink suffered major flooding damage and volunteers had to pitch in to help clean up.
‘‘We’re stoked to have the nationals held here and grateful for all the help we received to get the rink ready,’’ Ravens chairperson Carol-Moana West Rosser said.
‘‘This is a great chance for our teams to showcase their skills in front of their home crowd.’’
Rosser said while the level of play at tournament was competitive, it was all about having fun.
‘‘A lot of the people playing are enemies on the rink but best mates off it. It’s really good to see this many teams all through the age grades.’’