Captain of Inline Hockey, Daniel Middleton, reports on the 2023 season.

This year was a strong year for Inline Hockey. Player numbers were higher across the five year levels and many players gained club representative acknowledgement. Three players, Daniel Middleton and Felix Lu in the Under 16s, and Sinan Lu in the Under 18s, achieved New Zealand age-group representation. All the Waikato Secondary School League teams performed well throughout the year and the players enjoyed pleasing personal development.

The annual NZSSC Inline Hockey Tournament was held at the Hamilton Devils’ rink at Eastlink Sports Arena. Going into the tournament, the HBHS Premier team players were fired up after finishing a close second last year. The team started off well in pool play, winning its first three games 13-1, 16-0, and 11-1. For the final pool game, HBHS played New Plymouth Boys’ High School (NPBHS) which the boys knew would be their biggest competition. Unfortunately, after a tough game, the team ended up losing 2-4.

This left HBHS second in the round-robin, which qualified the team to progress straight through to the Gold and Silver final, against NPBHS again. Even though the boys had just lost to this team in round robin, they were confident they had the ability to win. This final would turn out to be one of the most brutal games of school inline hockey in New Zealand's history. NPBHS came out hard, putting a lot of physical pressure on, to gain an early lead. From there things were looking down, as HBHS trailed the whole game, coming into the last ten minutes down 3-1. However, they managed to up the intensity, with strong defence, to hold out several penalties, when players are temporarily removed from the rink. Then, two excellent goals from Nico Bolli and Felix Lu drew the team level. Then, with 36 seconds left on the clock, what turned out to be the game-winning goal from Shakayden Pang, put HBHS in the lead. The tournament for the school thus turned out to be a resounding success. HBHS reclaimed the cup, which it hasn’t held since 2018, and Daniel Middleton was named as Tournament MVP. None of this would have been possible without the hard work of all the boys and the organisation of Mrs Wallace. 

The team was: Benoit Keast, David Nguyen, Shakayden Pang, Fuyi Li, Leo Blackler, Nico Bolli, Jack Ericksen, Felix Lu, Sinan Lu, Odin Roberts, Ethan Sale, Matthew Tangney, and Daniel Middleton (Captain).