Despite kicking off 2017 with a young group, the Black Sticks Women continue to be a force on home soil as they took out the Hawke's Bay Festival of Hockey. A 3-0 win over Japan in the final with goals from Rachel McCann, Rose Keddell and Olivia Merry was largely built around a very solid defensive effort, no surprises there with veteran keeper Sally Rutherford between the pipes.

Next up for the BS Women are the World Hockey League Semi-Finals in Brussels, mid-June. The Festival was nice preparation for a major world tournament like the WHL and it'll be very interesting to see Mark Hager's squad for this event as numerous players would have been eager to make their case for further selection, especially as senior team members continue to take time off.

The BS Men are gearing up for the Sultan Azlan Shah tournament in Malaysia which gets underway on April 22. Until then, get among the hockey funk...