Southern regional development coach Mark Kake will add the role to his list of responsibilities.
Kake was shoulder-tapped by Southern Hockey late last year and brought in to upskill the region's coaches.
He got started in that job in early March and was not planning on doing any serious top-level coaching.
But with long-serving Dogs coach Dave Ross not able to commit to the position, Kake was asked to step in.
''It was a bit of a shock,'' Kake said.
''I thought I would be assisting my wife [Tina Bell-Kaka] with the women's team and having a bit of a look at the men's team.
''But I didn't expect to be handed it this early on in the piece.''
Southern pulled both teams out of the National Hockey League [NHL] last season and declined to say why.
It was thought financial reasons played a major part but Kake said in a previous interview he understood it was more about the timing of the event.
However, the NHL has been shortened from previous seasons to make it more affordable and it will be staged in Wellington from September 16 to September 24.
Kake is well qualified to guide the Dogs. He represented Auckland from 1984-95 and played for New Zealand from 1986-90 and again from 1992-95.
After retiring, he moved into coaching. He led the New Zealand Maori (2005-09) and guided the Auckland under-18 team to a national title in 2009 before moving to Hong Kong, where he coached internationally.
His wife, former Black Stick and Otago player Tina Bell-Kake, will coach the Southern Storm.
Feedback from Southern's Black Sticks suggests Kake will have to make do without them. The board has opted to go with ''homegrown'' players rather than bolstering the squad with imports as well, so Kake will have a challenge ahead to match the results previous teams have been able to achieve.
''At some stage you have to test your next tier of players for the development of the region. It is going to be tough.
''I've already said to them it wouldn't be a five-minute fix. I've said it is going to be a three to five-year project to get the results.''
The Dogs finished second in 2015 and Kake still thinks the side ''can be up there''.
Trials are scheduled for later this month.
