# 2020 Men's Premier Hockey League

The 2020 Men's Sentinel Homes Premier Hockey League was the inaugural men's edition of Hockey New Zealand's national league. The tournament was held in Hamilton at the Gallagher Hockey Centre. Competition commenced on 19 November, culminating with finals matches on 6 December.
The Central Falcons won the tournament after defeating the Southern Alpiners 1–0 in penalties after the final finished as a 1–1 draw. The Hauraki Mavericks finished in bronze position, defeating the Northern Tridents 4–1.

## Competition format
### Format

The 2020 Premier Hockey League saw a new format than that of the former, National Hockey League. Teams played in a double round-robin format during the Pool Stage, which was followed by two Classification Matches.
Following the results of the Pool Stage, the top two ranked teams contested the final, with the bottom two ranked teams playing off for third place.

### Point allocation

Match points will be distributed as follows:
* 4 points: win
* 2 points: shoot-out win
* 1 points: shoot-out loss
* 0 points: loss

## Participating teams

The four teams competing in the league come from the various regions of New Zealand.
* –– Central Falcons
* –– Hauraki Mavericks
* –– Northern Tridents
* –– Southern Alpiners

## Results

All times are local (New Zealand Daylight Time).

### Preliminary round

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | WD | LD | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | –– Central Falcons | 6 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 18 | 11 | +7 | 16 | Advanced to Final |
| 2 | –– Southern Alpiners | 6 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 16 | 10 | +6 | 14 | Advanced to Final |
| 3 | –– Hauraki Mavericks | 6 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 13 | 15 | −2 | 14 | |
| 4 | –– Northern Tridents | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 7 | 18 | −11 | 2 | |

#### Fixtures

* 19 November 2020 17:00
| Northern Tridents –– | 0–2 | –– Hauraki Mavericks |
| | Report | Soo-Choon 1' S. Child 12' |
* Umpires: Lee Erskine (NZL) Bevan Nichol (NZL)
* 19 November 2020 19:00
| Central Falcons –– | 2–1 | –– Southern Alpiners |
| Wilson 21' Hanks 60' | Report | Newman 50' |
* Umpires: Bruce Brownsey (NZL) Bren Duckworth (NZL)
* 21 November 2020 12:00
| Northern Tridents –– | 1–3 | –– Central Falcons |
| Capizzi 54' | Report | Smith 8', 39' Hiha 59' |
* Umpires: Benjamin Grant (NZL) Bevan Nichol (NZL)
* 21 November 2020 14:00
| Southern Alpiners –– | 2–2 | –– Hauraki Mavericks |
| F. Ward 9' Inglis 29' | Report | Woods 6', 60' |
| Penalties |||
| Inglis Ross Tarrant | 1–2 | Woods S. Child Sarikaya |
* Umpires: Bren Duckworth (NZL) Lee Erskine (NZL)
* 22 November 2020 12:00
| Southern Alpiners –– | 2–2 | –– Northern Tridents |
| Lane 5', 17' | Report | Houston 23', 55' |
| Penalties |||
| Inglis Connell Lane —— Inglis Lane Connell | 3–4 | Edwards O'Connor Capizzi —— Edwards Capizzi O'Connor |
* Umpires: Bevan Nichol (NZL) Lee Erskine (NZL)
* 22 November 2020 14:00
| Hauraki Mavericks –– | 2–6 | –– Central Falcons |
| Woods 48' Rees-Gibbs 49' | Report | Hiha 12' Wilcox 28' Wilson 45', 51' Olsen 50' Lett 54' |
* Umpires: Benjamin Grant (NZL) Bren Duckworth (NZL)
* 2 December 2020 17:00
| Central Falcons –– | 3–1 | –– Northern Tridents |
| Smith 11', 41' Wilson 23' | Report | O'Connor 21' |
* Umpires: Timothy Bond (NZL) Nicholas Saunders (NZL)
* 2 December 2020 19:00
| Hauraki Mavericks –– | 1–3 | –– Southern Alpiners |
| Woods 14' | Report | Newman 5' Inglis 35' Lane 56' |
* Umpires: David Tomlinson (NZL) Simon Taylor (NZL)
* 3 December 2020 17:00
| Northern Tridents –– | 1–5 | –– Southern Alpiners |
| Greentree 14' | Report | F. Ward 5' Jackson 25' Russell 30' Lane 44' Morrison 45' |
* Umpires: Nicholas Saunders (NZL) David Tomlinson (NZL)
* 3 December 2020 19:00
| Central Falcons –– | 2–3 | –– Hauraki Mavericks |
| Smith 36' Hiha 36' | Report | Woods 12', 38' S. Child 17' |
* Umpires: Gareth Greenfield (NZL) Timothy Bond (NZL)
* 5 December 2020 12:00
| Southern Alpiners –– | 3–2 | –– Central Falcons |
| Inglis 8' Lane 25' F. Ward 28' | Report | Jenness 6' Lett 33' |
* Umpires: David Tomlinson (NZL) Gareth Greenfield (NZL)
* 5 December 2020 14:00
| Hauraki Mavericks –– | 3–2 | –– Northern Tridents |
| Keaney 39' Woods 52' Sarikaya 58' | Report | Bennett 8', 29' |
* Umpires: Simon Taylor (NZL) Timothy Bond (NZL)

### Classification round
#### Third and fourth place

* 6 December 2020 12:00
| Hauraki Mavericks –– | 4–1 | –– Northern Tridents |
| Rees-Gibbs 30' Woods 33', 60+' Hayde 55' | Report | Edwards 38' |
* Umpires: Simon Taylor (NZL) Nicholas Saunders (NZL)

#### Final

* 6 December 2020 14:00
| Central Falcons –– | 1–1 | –– Southern Alpiners |
| Hiha 58' | Report | Lane 60' |
| Penalties |||
| Jenness Smith | 1–0 | Ross F. Ward Lane |
* Umpires: Gareth Greenfield (NZL) David Tomlinson (NZL)

## Awards

| Player of the Tournament | Top Goalscorer |
| –– Jacob Smith | –– Nicholas Woods |

## Statistics
### Final standings

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | WD | LD | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Final standing |
| | –– Central Falcons | 7 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 19 | 12 | +7 | 18 | Gold Medal |
| | –– Southern Alpiners | 7 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 17 | 11 | +6 | 15 | Silver Medal |
| | –– Hauraki Mavericks | 7 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 17 | 16 | +1 | 18 | Bronze Medal |
| 4 | –– Northern Tridents | 7 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 8 | 22 | −14 | 2 | Fourth Place |

#### Goalscorers

There were 61 goals scored in 14 matches, for an average of 4.36 goals per match.
9 goals
* –– Nicholas Woods
6 goals
* –– Samuel Lane
5 goals
* –– Jacob Smith
4 goals
* –– Samuel Hiha
* –– Nicholas Wilson
3 goals
* –– Hugo Inglis
* –– Finn Ward
2 goals
* –– Dane Lett
* –– Simon Child
* –– Matthew Rees-Gibbs
* –– Cory Bennett
* –– Samuel Houston
* –– Dominic Newman
1 goal
* –– Joseph Hanks
* –– Stephen Jenness
* –– Callum Olsen
* –– Mackenzie Wilcox
* –– Cameron Hayde
* –– Jonathan Keaney
* –– Aidan Sarikaya
* –– Jacob Soo-Choon
* –– Robert Capizzi
* –– Steven Edwards
* –– Connor Greentree
* –– Kieran O'Connor
* –– Joseph Morrison
* –– Moss Jackson
* –– Kane Russell
Source: Hockey New Zealand