Six members of the winning Wakatipu Wild ice hockey side left Queenstown last week to play for the New Zealand under-18 women’s team at the group B division 3 world champs in Sofia, Bulgaria.

From left are Aoife Orr, Inge Kemp, Polly Bennetts, Manuella Pedrosa, Lucy Boniface and Jessie Strain.

In Sofia they’ve hooked up with Wakatipu Wild teammate Caitlin Hollyer, who’s training and playing with an all-female club in Toronto, Canada, this northern winter, and is captaining the NZ team.

Speaking at Auckland International Airport last Friday, Polly, one of the squad’s youngest players — she turned 15 just this week — says ‘‘I cannot believe I made the team’’.

‘‘I’m over the moon, I’m so excited.’’

She took up ice hockey just four-and-a-half years ago.

‘‘I went to the rink with one of my friends and I just loved it so much I just came back every day.’’

What she loves about the sport is ‘‘it’s just so intense’’.

NZ’s first game was against Kazakhstan on Thursday — also in their group are Belgium, Estonia, Iceland, and the home country.

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