On Saturday they got their name on the trophy for a second time.
The defending champions produced some quality defence in the midfield to beat Canterbury 2-1 at the National Hockey Championship in Hamilton.
But defence alone would not have been enough.
It took two brilliant passes from star midfielder Finn Ward to break up the game.
Striker James Nicolson got on the end of both passes and produced two quality finishes in what was an impressive tournament for him.
You need skill to win big games. But you also need structure and that is where coach Dave Ross felt his side gained an edge.
"Our midfield was too good and that was really it," Ross said.
"They marked man to man and tried to take our midfield out. But we have a fair bit of experience in there with Nick [Ross] and so forth, and he was just able to manipulate it and that leaves passing lanes.
"So we were able to get it higher up the layer to Finn, and one on one he is just so good.
"That was our plan and James got a couple of really good touches which went in."
Otago beat Wellington 4-2 in Dunedin last year to claim the Challenge Shield for the first time in 114 years.
It was also the first senior banner for the province since the women won in 1987.
While last year’s win might have come as a small surprise, Otago went into this year’s tournament as favourites.
They had set the benchmark all week and registered a 5-2 win over Canterbury on Thursday.
That said, they had to scramble out of some early trouble in Saturday’s game.
Canterbury got a penalty corner on target, but goalie Hamish van Dyk got a pad in the way and his team-mates cleared it eventually.
Good desperate defence there.
But it was the defending champions who opened the scoring.
Ward whacked a long ball into the circle and Nicolson, who had made a lovely angled run across the goal mouth, deflected it in.
That was a moment of brilliance.
Canterbury were able to mount some pressure with a series of penalty goals, and Stephen Atkinson banged the ball into the left corner of the net late in the second quarter.
Van Dyk was called on to make another fine save midway through a largely uneventful third period.
Otago had spent a lot of time on the ball for very little reward.
But Ward came up with another pinpoint pass from deep early in the final period. This time he lobbed the ball in and Nicolson did brilliantly to bring it under control and slot it past the goalie.
Otago almost nabbed a third. Johnny Thorn whacked in a cross from close range, but Zach Mason could not connect.
It mattered not a jot. Otago shut Canterbury down. Their defence proved impenetrable in the final six minutes.
The Otago women suffered a 1-0 loss to Waikato in the playoff for seventh and eighth.
Georgia Morton scored early in the fourth quarter to seal Otago’s fate.
Auckland beat North Harbour 2-1 to win the women’s title.
The Otago men’s B team were beaten 5-1 by Waikato in their final match and finished 10th in the second tier men’s competition, while Southland finished fifth in the women’s tier two competition.
