Canada Loses Game 7 in Front of 3,500 Fans

October 24, 2009

Report by Omar Rawji

In the final match of the 7 Test Super Series in Surrey, BC, featuring Canada and India, the Canadians produced on penalty corners.  Unfortunately, they left a number of other scoring chances on the field, and India came away with their 6th win of the series after a 3-2 result on Saturday.

Following India’s third goal, Canada applied waves of pressure on the opposition’s defense and with only two minutes remaining, Pete Short carried the ball into the D, passing it to crowd favorite, Gabbar Singh.  Singh wasted no time hammering a backhand that just was saved by the goalie. 

In the first half, already down 1-0 in the 15th minute, Mark Erickson cracked a ball in towards Connor Meakin who dove to deflect a dangerous ball on net.  Once Canada had tied it up on the 26th minute penalty corner goal, Phil Wright created a glorious chance for himself, first tackling the ball off India’s defense and then putting it on net.  Just a few moments later, Dave Jameson would have a couple of glorious chances in close.

“It was a beautiful pass through by Jeevers (Ranjeev Deol), touched on by Philly (Wright) beautifully right to me.  Then I was one-on-one with the goalie.  The ball was too close to me, and tried to sweep it.  Instead of going for the corner, I went right at him.  Then I got another chance.  I tried to chip over him but it was too close to me and I put it right at him,” said Jameson. “You know, when you get those chances, you’ve got to put them away.”

Canada’s Head Coach Allan Brahmst echoed Jameson’s frustration: “Squandered opportunities – wide open opportunities in the first half.”  Other than that, he felt that the match was pretty even, “I thought it was a crowd pleaser.  Canada had quite a few chances and India had quite a few chances.  It was pretty open back and forth and I thought it was a good game overall.”

After an abnormal game 6 in which they were awarded zero penalty corners, Canada came back in game 7 to regain their edge in creating three short corners to India’s two.  This time, they capitalized, as Wayne Fernandes scored on two of the chances for a conversion rate of 66%.

“The first six games were tough, I mean we didn’t have any corners in the sixth game, but we had quite a few in the first five.  Our ratio wasn’t very good and the last three or four days were spent just practicing them and I’m glad it paid off,” said Fernandes.

On the other side, Canada defended both of India’s penalty corners well and goaltender David Carter saved both.

“We got out there quick.  I think we forced them to make a quick decision where to go and they went to the stick side both times.  I was reading it a lot better than I was in the past so I was able to make some easy saves off it,” said Carter.

Connor Meakin and Adam Froese were two young players who performed well on Saturday and earned praise from the coach.

Overall, the 7 match series against India was a positive experience for Canada, despite the 0-6-1 record, and once the team and coaching staff analyze the results, we will write more on this.

Scoring Summary:

21’ – IND Singh, Prabjot (FG) 1-0 India

26’ – CAN Fernandes, Wayne (PC) 1-1

31’ – IND Chandi, Gurwinder (FG) 2-1 India

46’ – CAN Fernandes, Wayne (PC) 2-2

49’ – IND Khandker, Tushar (FG) 3-2 India

Many Positives to Take Out of Game 5 Loss

October 18, 2009

By Omar Rawji

Dave Jameson Celebrates Photo: FHC / Neil Hodge

On a sunny Sunday afternoon in Surrey, B.C., the largest crowd thus far in the 7 Test Super Series showed up for the fifth test match between Canada and India, and some 2,500 fans were treated to an exciting show.  The end result would be a 3-1 loss for Canada, bringing their record in the series to 0-4-1, however the Canadians knew they played better and deserved a win. 

Back in net for Canada for his fourth start, was Vancouver’s David Carter, who played an excellent game that included a number of strong baseline challenges that thwarted a number Indian scoring opportunities.  One of his best came near the end of the match in the 68th minute when he raced the opposing right winger to a stretch pass near the sideline and seemingly hit the ball cleanly out of play. 

“It was clean.  I’m sure the video will show the same thing,” said an adamant Carter.  Unfortunately for Canada, the referee did not see it the same way as he called a deliberate foul on Carter, awarding an automatic penalty corner to India and a chance to put a 2-1 game out of reach.  On the ensuing corner, Sandeep Singh, India’s most dangerous weapon, put away yet another goal, his second of the game on a laser shot high to the blocker side. 

“He picked the corner perfectly on their third goal,” said Canada’s Head Coach Alan Brahmst.

Until India’s 68th minute 3-1 marker, Canada was very much in the game and going for a win.  Their goal came in the 41st minute on a scramble in front of India’s net, finished off by Dave Jameson.

“It was kind of just bumping around in the circle.  The goalie batted it in my direction and I just made sure I got my stick on it and put it in the net,” said the goal-scorer, Jameson, of his play.  It was an especially exciting moment for him as he had a group of supporters in attendance, who as fate would have it were sitting directly behind the net.  Upon scoring, he ran over to the fence, jumping up and down in celebration as they did the same on the other side.

“He planned it out well doing it right in front of his fan club.  It was more than we could’ve hoped for,” said Steph Jameson, Dave’s sister, and the self-appointed spokesperson of “DJ’s groupies”. 

The goal would draw Canada to within one, but that would be their only finished chance, despite a number of other opportunities.  Early on in the game Taylor Curran made a quick run up the center of the field to take a stretch feed, but he met a strong defender who spoiled his attempt.  In the 16th minute, Wayne Fernandes had a penalty corner flick labeled for the top corner of the net, but India’s keeper, Adrian D’Souza robbed him with a flash of his stick. 

Early in the second half, Gabbar Singh passed the ball into the left of the D to Connor Grimes, who crossed the ball just out of Jameson’s reach for a wide open shot at net.  And as the clock wound down on the match, Singh set Pearson up for another great chance.

“I took a swing and I think it was going in the top corner but the defender just stopped it with his stick.” said a regretful Pearson on the chance. 

Despite losing, Canada was in a optimistic mood following the game. 

Peter Short, one of the team’s veterans, playing in his 126th international match, was pleased with the effort: “We were much happier with our play.  It was much more intelligent all around,” he said, feeling that his team came out with more effort on Sunday. “Before the game there was a different feeling, a little more fire in the belly.  We just need to concentrate on continuing that sort of energy throughout every game we play.  We just have to capitalize on our chances, and that’s been the story of the series so far.”

Team Captain Scott Tupper felt the same way: “We feel like for the most part every game we’ve been doing good things but we’re just not getting the wins.  Today our process was quite good, we developed some chances and controlled a lot of the play but there were couple of calls that didn’t go our way.”

Head Coach Alan Brahmst is not concerned with wins and losses, rather, the experience that his team is gaining: “We’re here to do some things, learn some things and play tactically better as we move through this.  We want to give exposure to some of the young guys, and we’re doing exactly that.  It’s more about the process right now and it’s more about giving confidence to the guys that we can do some good things without our big guns.”  He also singled out Scott Sandison and Mark Erickson for displaying especially strong efforts.

With five games under their belt against one of the world’s most potent offensive teams, the experience has been positive so far, and in the words of David Carter, “We can only build from here, right?”

Game 6 takes place on Thursday October 29th, at 6:00pm in Surrey. 

Scoring Summary:

29’ – IND Mujtaba, Danish (FG) – 1-0 India

35’ – IND Singh, Sandeep (PC) – 2-0 India

41’ – CAN Jameson, David (FG) – 2-1 India

68’ – IND Singh, Sandeep (PC) – 3-1 India

Penalty Corners: CAN 4 – IND 4

Canadians rally to tie India 4-4 in Surrey

October 14, 2009

By Omar Rawji

Game 3 of the 7 Test Super Series couldn’t come quickly enough for Team Canada, as they left Victoria feeling that they deserved better than their 0-2 record would indicate.  The match started well, as Scott Tupper made an immediate impact in his first game back from Europe, scoring on the game’s first penalty corner, 2 minutes in.  Unfortunately, the 1-0 lead would evaporate quickly as Canada dug themselves an enormous hole, falling down 4-1 by the 45th minute.

Despite the score line, Canada was not being outplayed on the field and they salvaged a broken penalty corner opportunity in the 66th minute, bringing the score to 4-2.  Canadian goalkeeper, David Carter, after surrendering four penalty corner goals, sensed then that he needed to send a message in order to keep the momentum in his team’s favour, and he made an incredible stick side save on India’s fifth attempt in the 65th minute.

“He had already gone four for four on me and I wasn’t going to let him put a fifth one in,” said Carter of his save. “I had to make that save to keep the guys in the game.”

Buoyed by Carter’s effort, the team responded by dominating the last five minutes of the match.  After creating a number of offensive chances already, also in his first game back from Europe, Mark Pearson finally broke through in the 68th minute, when he took a beautiful feed from Rob Short to bring the game to within one for Canada. 

“Shorty set me up real nice with a nice pass across and I just touched it in,” said Pearson of the goal.

With Canada’s relentless attack and the hometown crowd going wild in the last minute of play, Scott Tupper lofted an aerial pass that would find the goalscorer, Pearson, once again down field.

“It was just a beautiful ball from Tupper over the top,” explained a still excited Pearson, “I picked it up on the backhand and then I just let it fly.”

Canada’s Captain Ken Pereira was adamant that his team never gave up, “A lot of people thought it was over except for us.”

Similar to Game 2, the third installment was not without controversy.  This time India’s second goal, scored on a penalty corner, was originally signaled no goal by the umpire closest to the play.  The ball appeared to hit the cross bar, bounce straight down, and never cross the line.

“I didn’t think it went in,” said goalkeeper, Carter, on the play. But after conferring, the referees reversed their decision. 

After the match, Canada’s video technician Aaron Guest reviewed the play, pronouncing, “It was a goal.”

Although Canada held the advantage in penalty corners with six to India’s five, India was superior on the set plays on Wednesday.

“They’ve got a great corner, one of the best ones in the world, and they sure use it,” said veteran Rob Short, speaking of Sandeep Singh’s 4 for 5 effort.

“With a guy like Sandeep, we can’t really be doing that,” said Tupper, agreeing that five was too many opportunities to give the potent India side.

Canada’s Head Coach Alan Brahmst felt his keeper could have been better on the plays, saying, “Our goaltending was sub-par on corners.”

Veteran Rob Short, playing in his 291st international match for Canada was not satisfied with the final outcome: “This was a game, like the last game, that I think we should have won.  We just didn’t score on our chances, and India finished their chances.”  Canada scored goals on two of their six penalty corner opportunities.

Brahmst was more positive on the final result: “I think this was a very important game for us.  Although it was only a point, we finally got [one] so we’re on the board, and we’ll be ready to go for Game 4.”

Game 4 will take place on Friday evening, again at 6 p.m. in Surrey.


Scoring Summary:

CAN – Tupper, Scott; PC; (2’); 0-1
IND – Singh, Sandeep; PC; (9’); 1-1
IND – Singh, Sandeep; PC; (18’); 2-1
IND – Singh, Sandeep; PC; (31’); 3-1
IND – Singh, Sandeep; PC; (45’); 4-1
CAN – Short, Rob; PC; (66’); 4-2
CAN – Pearson, Mark; (68’); 4-3
CAN – Pearson, Mark; (70’); 4-4

Penalty Corner Chances: CAN 6 – IND 5

October 13, 2009

Photo: Neil Hodge

After a weekend of quality hockey in Victoria, the Canadian and Indian teams have moved on to Surrey, British Columbia to contest the final 5 matches of the Super Series in Tamawanis Park, in front of what will surely be a noisy crowd: 15,000 tickets have been sold and the facility is ready to deliver!

Canada feels confident that they are able to pull the series in their favour, with the next and third test on Wednesday being a critical juncture.

“We felt that we were the better team during the 2nd test in Victoria and we need to use this to our advantage as we prepare for Wednesday”, coach Alan Brahmst suggested. “We had 35 circle entries, compared to India’s 22, with 24 of our penetrations coming in the 2nd half. We had three one on ones with the goaltender and numerous other quality chances that were not converted. We now have a challenge on our hands: we must capitalize on our opportunities and dramatically improve our circle play in order to succeed. Tactically, we improved the execution of our plan and we feel good about our defensive structure and our ability to continue to generate opportunities and corners. But we need to finish.”

After Connor Grimes was added for the 2nd match, Canada will now be joined by 3 additional players who were active in the German Bundesliga over the weekend and arrived yesterday to join the team in Surrey. Dave Jameson (105 caps) and Mark Pearson (56 caps) will strengthen the forward line, while Scott Tupper (82 caps) will be a key addition to the backfield and penalty corner unit.

“We knew we would have some movement in our team with Rob Short and Ken Pereira only playing the front end of the series before returning to action in the Dutch league, while our Bundesliga players will join only now.  It gives us an opportunity to trial different combinations and test the resiliency of the group and the leadership of those veterans who are here throughout the series, such as Pete Short, Ranjeev Deol, Wayne Fernandes and Connor Grimes”.

The Canadian team appears to have found one interesting addition to the team when testing new players at the training camp before the Series.  Adam Froese, only 18 years old, played in his first two international games during the weekend and showed composure and quality play at the centre back position.

Canada are confident they can respond to the Indian challenge.  The fans in Surrey can expect five evenings of spectacular hockey, continuing the huge success of this Super Series. 

TICKET INFORMATION

The Canada/India Men’s Field Hockey 7 Test Super Series will be played at Surrey Hockey Park at Tamanawis Park (12601 64 Ave, Surrey, BC, Canada) for five games beginning October 14.

Weekday games start at 6:00 pm, weekend games start at 2:00 pm.

Tickets prices are $15.00 for Adults and $7.00 for Children. Advanced tickets will go on sale Monday, September 21 at six locations in the Vancouver area. Game day tickets can also be purchased at Surrey Hockey Park at Tamanawis one hour before game time.

Field hockey fans are encouraged to purchase their tickets in advance, as grandstand seating will be limited. Go to <www.7testsuperseries.ca> for the complete list of games times.

If anyone wants to purchase tickets on line please visit www.7testsuperseries.ca or if anyone wants to purchase tickets in person please visit www.indiaclub.ca

Advanced ticket packages are available:

$50.00 Adults (5 games)
$25.00 Children (5 games)

Tickets Available at the following retail locations:

AK Pro
7220 Main Street
Vancouver, BC
604-678-6117

Forerunners
980 Marine Drive
North Vancouver, BC
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Kamal’s Video Palace
#103-8268 120th Street
Surrey, BC
604-592-9777

Bawa Music
12485 128th Street
Surrey, BC
604-590-4585

Gladwin Optical
Kwantlen Square
#105- 12568 72nd Ave.
Surrey, BC
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Gladwin Optical
#103- 2955 Gladwin Rd.
Abbotsford, BC
604-864-8803