Canterbury gunning for hockey double

You always learn a lot more from a loss than a win. We have sat down and looked at those parts of the game we can do better.

Canterbury will chase double delight when they contest both finals at the national hockey tournament in Whangarei today.

Their teams finished top of the men’s Challenge Cup and women’s K Cup, even though the men lost their final round robin game against Midlands 3- 2 yesterday.

That result enabled Midlands to bump North Harbour into third, so they will face Canterbury again today.

The Canterbury women will play North Harbour, who had an anxious wait yesterday when they had the bye and had to hope the Canterbury result against Midlands went their way.

It did, Canterbury winning 3- 2 with goals from Anne Mackechnie, Hannah Hill and Jackie Eden.

Midlands will be kicking themselves, having led 2- 0 at halftime through Kim Tanner and Susie Gilbert.

Canterbury beat Harbour 1- 0 in their round robin game earlier in the week, however Harbour midfielder Erin Goad, a former national junior representative and development squad player, believes there were important lessons to take out of that loss to Canterbury.

“You always learn a lot more from a loss than a win. We have sat down and looked at those parts of the game we can do better,” Goad said.

“We’ve gained quite a bit during the week in terms of implementing what we are trying to achieve.

“Hopefully we can finish it off,” she said.

Auckland’s miserable men’s tournament ended in a 3- 1 loss to Central, and they are left playing off for fifth place today.

Shorn of their internationals, along with the other teams, as they have been given time off after the Olympics, the defending champions were well off the pace, nabbing only one win in the campaign.

The Auckland women are chasing third in the playoffs today after a 6- 1 over Central yesterday, with two goals apiece for Madison Doar and Sam Harrison.