Hockey has been the most successful sport at King's College for many years, having won the National title twice in the last six years in 1999 and 2005 and, at the same time, claiming the treble of the Auckland Secondary Schools' Championship, the Greater Auckland competition and the National Schools' title, the Rankin Cup. Since 2005, the College First X1 has finished in the top 4 at Rankin and runners-up in 2009.

King's has produced a number of top international hockey stars over the years, including Jamie Smith who won over 160 international caps between 1985 and 1996 and was New Zealand captain from 1994-6; centre-forward Ken Robinson (39 caps from 1997-8); Mark and Peter Tynan who won international recognition in the eighties; Bruce Mellor, who represented New Zealand in the seventies and Michael Gunn, who was capped in the Pakistan series in 2000.

The most recent international selections have been Cain Fleming who played against Malaysia in the 2005 home series and Simon Child, who was selected while still at the College to become the second youngest player ever to represent the New Zealand Men's Hockey team in that same Malaysia series in 2005 and then went on to play in the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, 2008 Olympic games in Beijing. Simon, at 21, has now scored 76 goals and played 117 games for the Black Sticks.

Since the completion of the new turf facility in April 2007, the school has had 5 members of the First X1 represent New Zealand junior teams.

Hockey is a winter sport played in Terms Two and Three with the Rankin Cup, the National Secondary Schoolboys' tournament, played in the middle of Term Three.