The experienced defender made more than 100 appearances for his country after making his international debut in 2001.
The decision to retire from international hockey involved plenty of heartache. Initially, Nation was keen for one more campaign and had hoped to make the World Cup squad earlier this year. But when it looked like he was not going to be selected, he decided to put his family and career first, and accepted a job offer in Dunedin with ACC.
"It was a combination of work and family and where I was at with hockey at the time," Nation explained.
"Hockey wasn't looking as certain as it was and there was the certainty of a job that possibly wasn't going to be there in four or five months' time. That helped lead me down here.
"I was pretty happy ... that it was the right decision."
While he has drawn the curtain on his international career, he is not ready to hang up the boots altogether.
The 33-year-old is hoping to play for another one or two seasons. His leadership, organisation and experience at the back will prove invaluable for the Southern Men team, which has 12 new faces in its ranks this season.
Southern has struggled to recruit and retain players in recent years. It lost three of its most talented players when Hugo Inglis, Nick Ross and Blair Tarrant left the region last year to play for other associations.
But with the Black Sticks committed offshore, most of the national league teams are in the same boat, so the competition could be a lot more even this season.
Nation has been pleasantly surprised by the level of hockey played in the region.
"I've really enjoyed it, actually. The standard is not as bad as I was led to believe," he said, adding there was still plenty of work ahead to reach level of some of the other associations.
Nation is nursing a hamstring injury but hopes to make his debut for Southern this weekend, when the team opens its NHL campaign in Dunedin with games against Central (tomorrow) and Canterbury (Sunday).
Southern thrashed Central 7-1 in round-robin play last year and will be looking to get off to a good start with another comprehensive win.
Central finished last in 2009 but has practically a new team, with just three players returning this season. Canterbury shapes as a tougher opponent. It has a mixture of solid defenders and an experienced forward line.
Capital has retained half of the squad that clinched second place last season. The Wellington-based team could be the early favourite with experienced players Scott Falconer and Grant Down anchoring a talented side.
Defending champion North Harbour has 12 new players and is an unknown quality. Auckland should improve on its fifth placing, Midlands is well-coached by Darren Smith but has also seen a huge turnover in personnel, and Northland could prove little else than fodder.
As for Southern's prospects, Nation was cautiously optimistic.
"I think we will, hopefully, create some upsets. The national league is wide open this year without the Black Sticks there. So everyone is on a pretty level playing field.
"On our day we will test the good teams and, hopefully, put away the teams such as Central and Northland."
National Hockey League
SOUTHERN MEN
• 2009 placing: Sixth
• Key players: Former international James Nation and experienced striker Chris Ashton.
• Squad: Chris Ashton, Callum Bailey, James Bourke, Adam Clifford, Jason Dungey, Nic Elder, Todd Gould, Jared Jones, Scott Kearney, Andrew Matthews, Hamish McGregor, Jeremy Morris, James Nation, Sandeep Niak, Kane Russell, Rod Rzepecky, Hayden Shaw, Damien Watson.
• Coach: Dave Ross
DRAW
September 11: v Central, Dunedin; September 12: v Canterbury, Dunedin; September 18: v North Harbour, North Harbour; September 19: v Capital, North Harbour; September 20: v Northland, North Harbour; September 22: v Midlands, North Harbour; September 23: v Auckland, North Harbour; September 25-26: playoffs
