The inaugural Premier Hockey League will see our nation’s best players go head-to-head in an eight-team (four men and four women) round-robin competition running over four extended weekends from Thursday, 12 November. All matches are free to attend and will be broadcast live and available free on Sky Sport NEXT.

• The new Premier Hockey League will see our best players go head-to-head in an eight-team (four men and four women), round-robin competition running over four extended weekends from 9 September.
• The four teams and the geographic regions they represent are:
  • • • NORTHERN TRIDENTS – from Northland to Auckland
      • HAURAKI MAVERICKS – from Auckland to Taupo
      • CENTRAL FALCONS – from Taupo to Wellington
      • SOUTHERN ALPINERS – the South Island
• The competition will double as a selection event for the Vantage Black Sticks as they rebuild towards next year’s postponed FIH Pro League and the Tokyo Olympics.
• All matches in the inaugural league will be played at the new purpose-built National Hockey Centre in Albany, Auckland and matches will be free to attend.
• All matches will be covered live and available free on Sky Sport NEXT with selected matches able to be viewed on a Sky Sports channel.
• The league is focused on progressing New Zealand’s top talent into the high-performance environment. It will also help bridge the gap between club and international hockey.
• The league will see the four men’s and four women’s teams play a round-robin 28-match competition over two extended weekends. The final weekend will culminate with a Sunday finals day to decide the inaugural Premier Hockey League champions.
• Teams were selected via the Hockey Premier League draft. The majority of players were selected as protected local players and will play for the team where they play their representative hockey. The draft then selected the remaining players into teams which must include two goalkeepers.
• Matches will be played in four 15-minute quarters. If a match is drawn, it will result in a best of three penalty shootout.
• Each squad has a maximum of 20 players; however, during any match, they will only be able to use 18 players including two goalkeepers.