2026 Premier Hockey Finals

Any grand final game can be tense and exciting, and sometimes tedious, or as with Dalefield’s Women’s Premier final against Hutt United, unpredictable. A team that dominated the competition all season looked a little weak and ultimately endured their only loss in the most important game of the year.

Although there’s no doubt that the Hutt team outplayed Dalefield, it is interesting that a team that was so good and dominant throughout the year can play the final game without the same intensity. They finished the regular season six points clear of United, who finished third, after drawing with them away and winning 2-0 at home a month earlier.

Maybe it’s the pressure of a finals game, perhaps it’s the disadvantage of having to travel, or perhaps we should just put it down to being “one of those days”. After all, no team can be one hundred percent every game.

However that all said, I don’t think that the team played so badly at all. Sure, they did lack their usual overall intensity and there were some errors and wayward passes but I could definitely see a lot of effort and commitment from the players. My take is that despite many strong individual efforts, they weren’t enough on there own against a well prepared and hungry opposition. I agree with player and co-coach Katherine Reisima's assessment when she told the Times-Age “We just didn’t turn up on the day.”

Overall it was a little heartbreaking but judging from the games I watched throughout the season, I still think the Dalefield team was the pick of the competition - it’s just a shame they were a little bit off the boil for the final game.

Interestingly the Premier Men’s final wasn’t quite as entertaining. Although Dalefield went on to easily beat Wellington Indian Sports Club 3-1 and definitely looked the better side, the game didn’t have the same intensity as the women’s, and the Dalefield men didn’t quite play to their usual high standard. I thought there were more poor and missed passes than I have seen in any of their previous games.

The team were strong in the first two quarters and not surprisingly once they had a two-goal margin they then put more emphasis on controlling the game and defending. I couldn’t pick a player of the game but looking back at my photos it would probably have to be Oliver Bunny who appears in sixteen photos - which is about twenty percent of them.

Looking forward to next season.