Home series vs Korea 2012

Home series vs Korea 2012

Thursday 31 May 2012

Prestige Tyres and Automotive

Thanks to Peter Van Breugel, from Prestige Tyres and Automotive, and a member of the New Zealand masters hockey team himself- Check out out new ride to help get us to and from our trainings and gym sessions during our Olympic build up!
He has kindly supplied this car to myself, Hugo Inglis, Blair Tarrant and Hamish McGreggor of the Black Sticks team!
Thanks Pete!

Thanks Sue!

A big thank you to Sue Shepherd and the Northland Hockey community, who have helped raise money to support myself and the Northland Women for our Olympic campaigns.
As a member of the Olympic squad we are required to train full-time, meaning we have no opportunity to work and support ourselves.
The Northland Hockey community, and in particular the organisation and driving force of Sue, have been able to raise over $25,000 to help support us Northland members of the Black Sticks Olympic squads to help with our road to the Olympics!
Thanks Sue!!

Final place secured

We have booked our place in the Azlan Shah Cup final!!
We played the hosts Malaysia last night, grinding out a 4-1 win. We went in to the break 3-0 up, with goals to Ryan Archibald, Shea McAleese and Nick Wilson. Malaysia pulled one back in the second half, and I managed to get on the score board with our 4th goal.
We lost to Great Britain in our match the day before, going down 2-1. We were unable to maintain possession for long periods in this match and found ourselves chasing the game from the start.
We will be playing either Argentina or GB in the final on Sunday, but that is after our match tomorrow vs Korea. Although the Korean result will not influence our place in the final, the match is important to us as we will face Korea in our first game at the Olympics.

Sunday 27 May 2012

Azlan Shah stadium

9 points from 9

After 3 games in the tournament we are sitting on the top of the table with 9 points. Our last two games vs Argentina and Pakistan we're played at 4pm local time. The temperature has been 35+ degrees and the boys have been losing up to 3kgs a game! Despite the heat, we beat Argentina 5-2 and Pakistan 3-1. I managed to get on the score sheet in the Argentina game, netting our 4th goal. The game was a big challenge for me though, as I flew in at midnight the night before and it was my first hit on the turf and exposure to the heat and 100%. However, I have now acclimatised and looking forward to our next game vs Great Britian (ranked 5th in the world) on Wednesday.

Thursday 24 May 2012

Thanks to Alan and Jackie Lints of Educare North for their support of Stacey, Alana and I for our Olympic campaigns!

Azlan Shah Cup 2012

I arrived in Malaysia last night at 9.00pm, just after the boys had recorded a 5-1 win against India in the first game for the Azlan Shah Cup.
I took a 2 1/2 hour taxi to the hotel in Ipoh and have now settled in to join the team in our game vs Argentina tonight, 4pm local time. If last nights heat is anything to go by, it will be a struggle! It was 30 degrees at 11.30pm last night.
Keep following for game updates!