The tournament is the third-highest level hockey tournament in the country and was held for the first time at the newly completed Trust Aoraki Hockey Centre earlier this month.
South Canterbury finished eighth out of 21 teams and were a mere shootout away from securing a first top-four finish.
Coach and Hockey South Canterbury board member Ben Grant said his side performed well throughout the duration of the tournament.
"We got a lot of stuff right in some crucial moments. We performed pretty well, especially from our set plays — penalty corners were a strong part of our game and we defended pretty resolutely when we were wearing a whole lot of pressure.
"Every game we played were against teams who finished in the top 12. We had some pretty big associations to take on and there were only really small margins in each of the games.
"We’re not normally anywhere near that top eight. The only the other time we’ve done it was in 2023 when Timaru Boys’ High School won nationals.
"If we’d won that shootout, we’d have been in the top four and to be fair, a small association shouldn’t be anywhere near that at under-18 level."
He said about half of the squad would be back for next year’s tournament.
"It’s pretty good. You don’t really want a year where everyone’s all disappearing and you’ve got to start from scratch. The squad will be good for experience and come back for a slightly different format next year.
"The top 10 will play tier one and then the rest will play tier two. So this year’s result is really good for the fact that we’ll be in tier one with the big teams, which is really cool for South Canterbury."
Grant said it was great to have been able to play a home tournament.
"Playing at home is very rare for the boys because these tournaments don’t normally get to move, so we’re always away from home.
"It was very new. I think on one hand there was a little bit of added pressure, they look around and go, jeez, there’s a lot of local people on the sidelines. At the same time, they’re playing on a turf that they know well, they’ve got mates hanging over the sideline, and that spurred them on a bit as well.
"The boys normally wouldn’t get to play in front of crowds like that and I think that was a real cool element that got them across the line on a couple of occasions."
Hosting the tournament at the new facilities was big for the sport in South Canterbury, he said.
"I think the most pleasing part is naturally a lot of people from around the country were coming to Timaru probably not with huge expectations, both in terms of our facilities and what the region has to offer.
"Everyone that we spoke to was just absolutely amazed at A, how good the facility was, and B, what Timaru had to offer. Whether it was the sightseeing, or going to a different restaurant every night and raving about the food, just everything that they didn’t think South Canterbury was.
"From a hockey point of view, we had a lot of feedback saying that we did some things that you just don’t expect in other places which made it a real memorable experience. So that hopefully sets us up for maybe another big tournament down the track.
"These things don’t happen very often, so it might be another few years, but we’ll certainly be ready for whatever the next thing is we get asked."
He said Hockey South Canterbury appreciated all the support, especially financially, it had received this year to get to the facilities to where they were.
"In particular, Trust Aoraki, because there’s no way we would be able to deliver what we do without them, but also the community getting in behind. Whether it’s their support or volunteering, to run this event highly successfully, it took a real army of support.
"We’re just really appreciative of that."
