PHL Round 1 Continues in Auckland: Tridents Meet Mavericks After Alpiners’ Opening Double

The Premier Hockey League’s opening weekend isn’t done yet. After Hawke’s Bay, it’s Auckland’s turn.

The Tridents host the Mavericks at Lloyd Elsmore Park on Sunday 8 November, with the women’s game at 1.00pm NZDT (5.00am PKT) and the men’s at 3.00pm NZDT (7.00am PKT). It’s the second half of Round 1, and both sides will have watched Saturday’s openers closely.

The Alpiners set the tone in Napier. Their men beat the Central Falcons 3-2, with a treble doing the damage, and their women won by the same 3-2 scoreline. Two games, two one-goal wins, and a reminder that nobody in this league is going to have it easy. The Tridents and the Mavericks both start from zero, and a win on Sunday puts either of them straight into the early mix.

What this season is

The PHL is back with a four-weekend, double-header format across five venues, and it all builds to the Grand Final on Saturday 12 December. Four franchises, the Alpiners, Falcons, Mavericks and Tridents, play each other home and away in a compact sprint of a season. This year’s league carries 32 Black Sticks and 11 international players, so the standard is the highest the competition has seen.

There’s a bigger picture too. The league lines up with a special three-match invitational series — the Slumberzone Cup — between the Black Sticks men and India at this same ground, Lloyd Elsmore Park, on 19, 21 and 22 November, marking 100 years since India’s first hockey tour to New Zealand in 1926. PHL players are expected to feature in that series, which falls between the opening weekend and Round 2. So Sunday isn’t just about two points. It’s an audition for the biggest week in New Zealand hockey this year.

After this weekend the league takes a three-week break before Rounds 2 and 3 at North Harbour in Auckland on 28 and 29 November. The Alpiners have already banked their wins. Now the Tridents and Mavericks get their say.