The win secures Otago vital points — alongside those accumulated from the round-robin — as they head into their second crossover game against North Harbour today. The top two ranked teams will then play in the final tomorrow.
Otago came out strong against Canterbury, despite an early yellow card to Nic Finlayson, when Jordan Ward scored from a penalty corner in the 13th minute.
The second period became an arm wrestle and Otago’s defensive prowess came to the fore to keep Canterbury out.
But it was the third period where they piled on the damage, scoring three goals to Canterbury’s two.
Blair Tarrant sent the ball flying down where it found Zach Mason on the backline. He trapped the ball and flicked it up into the goal to lead 2-0.
Canterbury hit back immediately with their first points of the game through Charlie Morrison’s penalty stroke.
But then came Otago again with some individual flair from Finn Ward. He stole the ball from Canterbury, weaved his way through defenders to bring it up the field and banged it in beautifully.
Benji Culhane was yellow carded in the 45th minute and Josh Irwin scored from another penalty strike for Canterbury to trail 3-2.
Not to be outdone, Otago finished off the third period through Kieran O’Connor’s goal.
He was too fast even for the livestream camera which forgot to follow him and failed to show the goal, but the spectators’ gasps indicated it must have been a good one.
Canterbury came into the fourth period desperate to break Otago’s defence. They had another penalty corner but goalie Hamish van Dyk swatted away their attempts.
Otago finished with a stunning goal. James Nicholson’s shot clipped the side of O’Connor’s stick to fly into the goal and secure the win.
Otago lost 2-1 against Waikato in the national women’s hockey championship in Hamilton.
Otago were the better team early on and they had something to show for it by the 11th minute.
Eve Swan stole the ball between two Waikato defenders and banged it into the net. That gave Otago a 1-0 for much of the game until Waikato broke through their defence.
Halle Scurrah flicked in an equaliser off a penalty and then added another, after getting a second chance at a reverse shot, to lead 2-0.
They will play Hawke’s Bay this morning.
