At 35-years-old, Ryan Archibald is one of the elder figures in the Black Sticks -- and today's test against Malaysia will see him become just the third Black Stick to play 300 internationals.
"I guess as I reflect back, I'm pretty proud of all the matches I've played for New Zealand and all the times I've been able to represent us at major tournaments -- so really looking forward to it," he said.
Black Sticks coach Colin Batch says Archibald is "a very smart hockey player", and he's become increasingly aware of his talents the longer he's coached him.
"I certainly appreciate that now having worked with him over the last 18 months or so," he said.
"Very skilful, and that's one side of it -- but he's in his mid-30s now and he's juggling a career and his family as well so you have to factor all of that into it.
"He's still maintaining a high level of fitness so full marks to him."
Archibald's experience will be key as the team builds towards the Rio Olympics, particularly with veterans Phil Burrows, Andy Hayward and Steve Edwards all omitted from the current national squad.
"It's just the way it goes sometimes," Batch said.
"We're pretty keen to develop the new guys; guys that have been there before but we believe they've improved and grown a lot so it'll be interesting to see how they perform."
Today's game is the first of four against Malaysia, followed by another four-game series with Korea.
With the Rio squad to be named in May, Batch admits time and opportunities are running out.
"There's not much between the players so we want to give everyone as much chance to secure a spot in Rio, and it's going to be difficult because we've only got 15 or 16 games to do it," he said.
"Everything, every training session's assessed well. We're looking at what you can do, what your core job is, and added value."
Rio would be Archibald's third Olympics and he believes the team is tracking well.
"At this point of time -- in my opinion -- is that we're in a pretty good place," he said.
"We're preparing well, everyone's looking really motivated, pretty sharp for the time of year so hopefully that will continue on an upward trend."
Newshub.