The first pre-season matches for the 1st XI Hockey Team were played on Saturday in the Manawatu Pre-Season Classic Tournament.
This was to be the first time this extended squad of 24 young men were to play together and the games were used as a trial and to experiment with different playing combinations.
Our first match was against a very good College side that gave PNBHS a lesson on how to score goals. However, PNBHS showed some excellent passages of play and resolute defense in their first proper match of the season. The final score was a 7-0 loss.
The second match was against Massey. A scrappy match that ended in a 1 - 1 draw with Ben Havord scoring.
The final match of the day was against Marist which again ended in a 1 - 1 draw. Heath Tangiiau scored the goal.
Overall a very encouraging day for PNBHS as preparation gets underway for the 2019 season. There are some difficult decisions to be made as the squad reduces to 20 players next week. These 20 players will attend the St Paul's ANZAC Tournament in the upcoming holidays before the final team of 18 is selected.