Otago opened the defence of their national championship crown with a rollicking 7-1 win over Manawatū in Hamilton yesterday.
They did most of the damage in the second quarter, when they poured in four goals in the space of four minutes.
The pace was so hot it seemed to melt the automatic ball-tracking technology on the Hockey New Zealand live stream — no fewer than three Otago goals were scored while the camera was focused intently on relaxed Otago goalkeeper Hamish van Dyk.
After Malachi Buschl missed an early penalty stroke, Jordan Ward gave Otago the lead with a smooth strike from a penalty corner, but that was all the scoring action in the first quarter.
The second quarter was just a little busier.
Buschl made it 2-0 with a field goal, Nic Finlayson grabbed a third just a minute later, and a second Ward penalty corner — the first goal actually visible on the stream — made it 4-0 and game over.
Manawatu got off the board when van Dyk made a nice penalty corner save but Nick Wilson tucked home the rebound.
Finlayson nabbed a second to make it 5-1 at halftime.
Patrick Ward scored the goal of the game seven minutes into the third quarter with a stunning reverse-handed effort from the edge of the circle, and Craig Turner completed the rout with a goal in the last minute of the game.
Otago play Waikato this afternoon.
— The Otago women opened their campaign yesterday with a 6-1 loss to Canterbury.
Ella McCall gave Otago a promising start with a goal from a penalty corner in the sixth minute, but the defending champions scored two goals in the first quarter and three in the second to take control of the game.
Otago play Auckland this afternoon.
— The Otago B men’s team made a promising start to the tier-two tournament before slipping to a 4-1 loss to Tauranga.
Henry Storey gave Otago the lead after just eight minutes but Tauranga equalised three minutes later and added two more goals in the second quarter and another in the third.
Otago B play Tasman at 6pm today.
