Irish goalie giving province a go

Otago import Holly Micklem hopes her side will surprise a few teams at the National Hockey League...
Otago import Holly Micklem hopes her side will surprise a few teams at the National Hockey League tournament in Palmerston North which gets under way tomorrow. PHOTO: PETER MCINTOSH
When Holly Micklem is done padding away goals for Otago, she plans to drive off into the South Island sunset with Trevor.

Trevor is a people-mover.

The seats at the back have been removed and replaced with a mattress, and the van will soon be home for the 22-year-old Irish international.

But first there is a hockey tournament.

Otago will play Auckland tomorrow in their opening game of the National Hockey League in Palmerston North.

It will be a challenging competition for Otago, but they hope to surprise a few teams.

They lost all three games at the Otautahi Cup in Christchurch a couple of weeks ago.

They were thumped 7-1 by Canterbury and lost 3-2 to Canterbury B and 2-0 to Wellington.

"We took a lot of learnings out of it," Micklem said,

"We didn’t have our full squad there. So we kind of took it as an opportunity to tried out a couple of things so that we know exactly what we’re doing heading into the NHL."

"We’re hoping to cause a good few upsets and cause a bit of a fright.

"Based on speaking to people around the place, I think the expectations tend to be pretty low of Otago. And people tend to kind of underestimate the team.

"But I think we’ve got a huge amount to give. We’ve definitely got the potential to cause a good number of upsets."

The goalie has played perhaps 50 games for Ireland but only two of them are recognised as official capped games.

When Ireland failed to qualify for the Olympics, she suddenly found herself at a loose end.

"Our programme was sort of thrown up in the air a little bit and I had, like, six months to work with."

There was no domestic hockey to play back home so she decided to travel and flicked off a bunch of emails.

Otago took the bait.

"They were, like, super friendly ... and they made it like really appealing to come over. And I liked the fact that they spoke a lot about how they were a real hockey community."

She arrived two and a-half months ago and they put her to work doing some coaching and promotional work in the schools.

Micklem also played in the club competition for Taieri.

From what she can gauge from the Otautahi Cup, the standard at the NHL will be "pretty high".

"I was impressed by all the teams that we played. I think we would have been at a much bigger disadvantage going into NHL had we not had those games in Christchurch."

Otago will lean on fellow internationals Tessa Jopp and Kelsey Smith to provide a spark.

Annabelle Schneideman is a key player in the centre of the field and Hayley Cox can thump the ball hard and is charged with finding the back of the net.

At the end of the tournament, Micklem plans to tick off a few bucket list destinations while in New Zealand.

"I’m going to be travelling around in a van called Trevor.

"I’m really looking forward to that. I’m going to be doing a bit of Abel Tasman. I’m going to go to Mt Cook.

"Obviously we’ve been training a lot, so I’m looking forward to getting out and exploring.

Is Trevor reliable?

"He’s cheap as chips so we’ll see. Essentially he’s like a mum mobile with a mattress in the back."

"I’m so lucky to be able to come over here and I tell the school children to keep playing sport, keep playing hockey because you never know the opportunities it brings."

National championships

Otago squad

Ava Beens, Anneka Calder, Hannah Cormack, Hayley Cox, Chloe Donaldson, Ella Greenwood, Tessa Jopp (captain), Rachael Lecky, Anna McLean, Holly Micklem, Rose Parkinson, Ruby Pederson, Abby Reid, Annabelle Schneideman, Kelsey Smith, Eve Swan, Millie White. Danielle Wheeler.

Otago draw

Sunday: v Auckland

Monday: v Manawatū

Tuesday: v Hawke’s Bay