Defending male and female champions at the International Pan American Indoor Hockey Championships, Canada, have warned that they will not be complacent in their defense of their titles.
The champions had their first training session at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall on Friday and already looked at home on the plastic tile surface; however the climate seemed an instant humbug.
Defending Champions: the Canadian Men’s National team
Guyana Times Sport caught up with coach of the women’s team, Louis Mendonca after the team’s training session and he expressed hope of his team securing the lone world cup spot up for grabs while retaining their title. When asked about the climate, Mendonca noted; “It is going to be a factor for all the teams that don’t train in this kind of weather, it’s a bit different, right now in Canada, indoors is played for us in December and March, around the world it is played when it is much more cooler, so it is going to be a factor but a factor for everybody but we must overcome.”
Coach Mendonca pointed out that while there are three or four (Argentina, USA, Canada and Uruguay) teams that historically vie for the top spots at the tournament, his side will have to be at their best at all times as any given day teams like Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago or Barbados could upset them.
Canada will field a fairly new women’s side with seven players making their international debut as the old guard is currently on College duty in the Outdoor season.
Meanwhile Scott Sandison, who was a player at the last Pan American tournament and is now coach of the men’s team revealed that as defending champions there will be added pressure on his side but pointed out that they have prepared as best as they can.
“There are a lot of good teams here, we know that and we have come prepared to try to play our best against those teams, Argentina beat us at the last Pan-Am so they are a big threat, they also travelled to Canada a couple of years ago and played a tournament against us so we know they are a good team. Trinidad always has good skills, good players individually, of course Guyana on home turf means a big difference, and they were bronze medalists at last Pan-Am so they are going to be a strong team, it’s up to us to be as good as we can be and see what happens” Sandison explained.
He stated that his side will be evaluating and doing every possible thing to get the gold medal and seal a berth at the 2018 world cup. The male team will be led by captain Ken Pereira who is a seasoned campaigner with the Canadian record for the most caps with 400 under his belt.
Canada is the defending Men’s champions having defeated USA in 2014 in Uruguay while Guyana beat Argentina on penalties to finish third. The Canadian women are defending champions as well having beaten Argentina while USA defeated Uruguay for third place. This year’s championships are being contested at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall from October 16-22.
