The national title will stay in the South Island.
Otago will get the chance to defend their national men’s hockey title when they face Canterbury in a southern derby in the final this afternoon.
Despite losing 4-3 in a penalty shootout to North Harbour yesterday, Otago qualified ahead of their opponents who needed a three-goal winning margin to make the final.
Otago have been strong all tournament, dispatching teams and working cohesively to produce good results throughout the week in Hamilton.
They will head in to this afternoon’s match as favourites, having beaten Canterbury 5-2 in their crossover game on Thursday.
Otago yesterday proved they are comfortable leading or grinding it out to come from behind, after scoring an equaliser with seconds to spare against North Harbour to force the shootout.
The defending champions were patient throughout the match and found a gap with 26 seconds to spare on the clock.
Earlier, the ball bounced off several Otago players’ sticks in the circle before James Nicolson flicked it into the goal to lead 1-0.
It was a battle through the middle period of the game and Otago put in a stoic shift on defence to keep North Harbour out.
That was broken when Charl Ulrich scored off a penalty corner in the 45th minute to level.
Henry Will secured North Harbour’s lead in the 51st minute, leaving Otago desperate to score at the end of the fourth.
Otago did not panic, working it around to find their opportunities when Jordan Ward banged in a penalty — his sixth of the week — with 40 seconds left to force the shootout.
They lost the shootout, but can put it behind them as they look to go back-to-back against Canterbury at 4.45pm.
Otago women will play Waikato in the playoff for seventh and eighth at noon.
They had a narrow 3-2 loss against Hawke’s Bay yesterday.
Ella Greenwood scored in the eighth minute to give Otago a 1-0 lead early.
Greer Findlay scored for Hawke’s Bay, as did Otago captain Maddie Peel to lead 2-1, but Hawke’s Bay had the better of the second half.
Emily Brun and Olivia Shannon scored in the third and fourth period respectively to sneak the win.
