The home side was stronger on the ball and made more of its opportunities.
It opened the scoring in the 24th minute, through Cameron Lindsay, and added a second early in the third period, when Callum Sykes knocked the ball past the goalie.
Midfield defender Vinnie O’Connor replied for Otago with a penalty stroke before John Wallace had the final say, scoring deep in the third quarter to seal the win.
Canterbury beat South Canterbury 4-0 in the other semifinal and will play Northland in the final today, while Otago will meet South Canterbury in the playoff for third and fourth.
While Otago coach John Daniel was disappointed not to have reached the final, the team did not have a lot of preparation time and a top four finish was a good effort.
"We had a bunch of players who were willing to commit totally to this campaign," he said.
"They weren’t second string in any shape or form. They’re top drawer, these guys."
That said Northland played the better hockey, while Otago squandered too many opportunities in front of goal.
"Northland played well and took their chances. We didn’t execute our game plan and also we did not convert the chances that we had in the circle into something meaningful."
Otago’s Ryan Hampton injured his leg and will miss today’s match.
In the women’s tournament, Otago beat Tauranga 1-0 and will play Northland in the playoff for fifth and sixth today.
Coach Nigel Ben-Gurion was not particularly pleased with the performance. He felt his side lacked accuracy in front of the goal.
"We absolutely dominated them but just could not put the ball in the back of the net," he said.
"We probably should have been 12 or 13 goals up, to be honest."
Otago beat Northland in a tense game on Wednesday.
The score was 2-2 at fulltime and Otago wont he shootout 4-3.
Southland and Canterbury will contest the women’s final.
