# 2020 Women's Premier Hockey League

The 2020 Women's Sentinel Homes Premier Hockey League was the inaugural women's edition of Hockey New Zealand's national league. The tournament was held in Hamilton at the Gallagher Hockey Centre. Competition commenced on 12 November, culminating with finals matches on 29 November.
The Central Falcons won the tournament after defeating the Northern Tridents 3–1 in the final. The Hauraki Mavericks finished in bronze position, defeating the Southern Alpiners 1–0.

## 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 | 2 | 0 | 13 | 7 | +6 | 18 | Advanced to Final |
| 2 | –– Northern Tridents | 6 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 15 | 9 | +6 | 14 | Advanced to Final |
| 3 | –– Hauraki Mavericks | 6 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 12 | −5 | 10 | |
| 4 | –– Southern Alpiners | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 8 | 15 | −7 | 4 | |

#### Fixtures

* 12 November 2020 17:00
| Northern Tridents –– | 5–0 | –– Hauraki Mavericks |
| Michelsen 14', 44' Ivory 37' Hildesley 45' Tynan 59' | Report | |
* Umpires: Mallory Barnett (NZL) Kirsten Stuckey (NZL)
* 12 November 2020 19:00
| Central Falcons –– | 4–1 | –– Southern Alpiners |
| Shannon 5' Ralph 9', 26' Hull 10' | Report | Merry 22' |
* Umpires: Lani Jackman (NZL) Kelly-Anne Foskin (NZL)
* 14 November 2020 12:00
| Northern Tridents –– | 2–2 | –– Central Falcons |
| Dickins 17' Tynan 20' | Report | Kelly 40' Curtis 56' |
| Penalties |||
| Doar Dickins Tynan —— Tynan | 2–1 | Shannon Baker Ralph —— Ralph |
* Umpires: Kelly-Anne Foskin (NZL) Kirsten Stuckey (NZL)
* 14 November 2020 14:00
| Southern Alpiners –– | 2–3 | –– Hauraki Mavericks |
| Ambrosius 24' Merry 27' | Report | King 33' Hunt 37' Jaques 55' |
* Umpires: Lani Jackman (NZL) Mallory Barnett (NZL)
* 15 November 2020 12:00
| Southern Alpiners –– | 1–4 | –– Northern Tridents |
| Merry 15' | Report | Ivory 17' Pearce 30', 36' Tynan 55' |
* Umpires: Kelly-Anne Foskin (NZL) Mallory Barnett (NZL)
* 15 November 2020 14:00
| Hauraki Mavericks –– | 1–1 | –– Central Falcons |
| Jaques 34' | Report | Ralph 56' |
| Penalties |||
| Thompson King Jaques —— Thompson | 3–2 | Shannon Whitelock Hull —— Whitelock |
* Umpires: Kirsten Stuckey (NZL) Lani Jackman (NZL)
* 25 November 2020 17:00
| Central Falcons –– | 2–1 | –– Northern Tridents |
| Shannon 30' Cotter 59' | Report | Michelsen 37' |
* Umpires: Amber Church (NZL) Kelly-Anne Foskin (NZL)
* 25 November 2020 19:00
| Hauraki Mavericks –– | 1–0 | –– Southern Alpiners |
| Thompson 31' | Report | |
* Umpires: Kelly Hudson (NZL) Rachel Murphy (NZL)
* 26 November 2020 17:00
| Southern Alpiners –– | 1–2 | –– Central Falcons |
| Willis 23' | Report | Ralph 43' Shannon 47' |
* Umpires: Rachel Murphy (NZL) Amber Church (NZL)
* 26 November 2020 19:00
| Hauraki Mavericks –– | 1–2 | –– Northern Tridents |
| T. Robinson 26' | Report | Michelsen 6', 57' |
* Umpires: Lani Jackman (NZL) Kelly Hudson (NZL)
* 28 November 2020 12:00
| Northern Tridents –– | 1–3 | –– Southern Alpiners |
| Lench 21' | Report | Merry 7' Ambrosius 27' Wium 57' |
* Umpires: Amber Church (NZL) Lani Jackman (NZL)
* 28 November 2020 14:00
| Central Falcons –– | 2–1 | –– Hauraki Mavericks |
| Shannon 48' Reidy 53' | Report | A. Robinson 20' |
* Umpires: Kelly-Anne Foskin (NZL) Rachel Murphy (NZL)

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

* 29 November 2020 12:00
| Hauraki Mavericks –– | 1–0 | –– Southern Alpiners |
| Tuilotolava 58' | Report | |
* Umpires: Kelly Hudson (NZL) Kelly-Anne Foskin (NZL)

#### Final

* 29 November 2020 14:00
| Central Falcons –– | 3–1 | –– Northern Tridents |
| McIntyre 7' Whitelock 24' Curtis 27' | Report | Pearce 18' |
* Umpires: Amber Church (NZL) Lani Jackman (NZL)

## Awards

| Player of the Tournament | Top Goalscorer |
| –– Stacey Michelsen | –– Stacey Michelsen |

## Statistics
### Final standings

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | WD | LD | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Final standing |
| | –– Central Falcons | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 16 | 8 | +8 | 22 | Gold Medal |
| | –– Northern Tridents | 7 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 16 | 12 | +4 | 14 | Silver Medal |
| | –– Hauraki Mavericks | 7 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 12 | −4 | 14 | Bronze Medal |
| 4 | –– Southern Alpiners | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 8 | 16 | −8 | 4 | Fourth Place |

### Goalscorers

There were 48 goals scored in 14 matches, for an average of 3.43 goals per match.
5 goals
* –– Stacey Michelsen
4 goals
* –– Hope Ralph
* –– Olivia Shannon
* –– Olivia Merry
3 goals
* –– Kirsten Pearce
* –– Rose Tynan
2 goals
* –– Michaela Curtis
* –– Alia Jaques
* –– Kate Ivory
* –– Isabella Ambrosius
1 goal
* –– Kaitlin Cotter
* –– Megan Hull
* –– Jessica Kelly
* –– Jenna-Rae McIntyre
* –– Felicity Reidy
* –– Kayla Whitelock
* –– Alison Hunt
* –– Julia King
* –– Amy Robinson
* –– Tori Robinson
* –– Elizabeth Thompson
* –– Louisa Tuilotolava
* –– Stephanie Dickins
* –– Sophie Hildesley
* –– Tyler Lench
* –– Margot Willis
* –– Emily Wium
Source: Hockey New Zealand