Jordan Vieira scored a beaver trick, inclusive of two goals in the opening period and then in the later stages to lead T&T senior national men’s hockey team to a convincing 7-3 whipping of host Canada in their opening match of the four-team Indoor Pan American Hockey Cup in Alberta, Tuesday.
With defending champion Argentina hammering Guyana 9-5 in the tournament's opener at the Seven Chiefs Sportsplex & Chief Jim Starlight Centre, the onus was on the Raphael Govia-coached 'Calypso Stickmen' and Canada to keep pace with a victory of their own with USA, the other team in contention.
Vieira, a member of the T&T hockey team at the recent FIH Hockey5s World Cup in Oman, fired his team into a 2-0 lead with goals in the second minute and a penalty-corner conversion two minutes later.
The host managed to pull a goal back in the tenth minute through Flynn Mc Culloch but Tariq Marcano restored T&T's two-goal cushion in the 20th minute from a penalty stroke, only for Canada, winner of four of the first six editions of the competition (2002, 2005, 2010, 2014), to hit back again via a penalty-corner from Jagpreet Singh in the 24th to trail 2-3.
Within a minute, Mickell Pierre got T&T's fourth item but Leighton De Souza got among the goals for Canada in the 29th for a 4-3 score in favour of 2017 champions T&T.
T&T then took command of the encounter with Pierre scoring his second of the match in the 31st for a 5-3 advantage followed by another brace from Vieira, first a penalty-corner conversion in the 37th, and then a field goal with a minute left to cap off the dominant display by his teammates.
Speaking after the win, an elated Govia said, "It’s just the start we wanted, as we are taking every game as a final."
Reflecting on the win, Govia said, "Our structure was solid and our tactics was good. The boys executed to plan and they were accountable and carried their roles and functions really well.
He added, "In attack, we were fluent and could have scored more with a more clinical touch, but all-in-all, it’s a good win to start in a format like this as every game is a final."
Last night in the second session of matches, the 2008 competition winner, USA, faced Guyana while Argentina battled Canada.
Wednesday (March 20), the T&T men who are hoping to qualify for a third FIH Indoor Hockey World Cup appearance after participating in Vienna, Austria in 2007 and Berlin, Germany in 2018 will face USA from 3.45 pm followed by Canada against Guyana at 7 pm, and Argentina and USA from 8.15 pm.
Thursday (March 21), T&T will start the final day of round-robin versus Guyana at 3.45 pm, while USA plays Canada from 7 pm, followed by T&T against Argentina from 8.15 pm to conclude the round-robin series.
At the end of the round-robin phase, the playoffs will begin on Friday (March 22) with the top team playing the fourth-placed team while the second and third face off in the other semifinals, ahead of the bronze medal and gold medal matches.
The two finalists will also qualify for the World Cup after it was revealed by the FIH that teams’ qualification quotas were awarded following the FIH Indoor Hockey Men’s World Cup 2023 for the top six teams whereby an additional spot was given to their respective continental federations, and not to a specific team.
The teams that will fill these additional quotas will also come from the Continental Championships 1 Austria (EuroHockey); 2 Netherlands ((EuroHockey); 3 Iran (AHF); 4 USA (PAHF); 5 Belgium (EuroHockey) and 6 South Africa (AfHF).
Therefore, Europe was awarded three additional quotas, to be filled by the second, third and fourth-placed teams in the EuroHockey Men’s Indoor Championship 2024 while Africa, Asia and Pan America were awarded one additional quota each to be filled by the second-placed teams in their respective Continental.
At the 2017 Indoor Pan American Cup in Georgetown, Guyana, T&T, coached by Govia, thrashed Argentina 7-0 in the final to qualify for the 2018 FIH Indoor World Cup.
However, the 'Calypso Stickmen' withdrew from the 2021 edition which was held in the USA with Argentina beating the host 4-2 in the decider of the three-team tournament which also featured Canada.
Tuesday's results
Session One:
T&T 7 (Jordan Vieira 2nd, 4th, 37th, 39th, Mickell Pierre 25th, 31st, Tariq Marcano 20th pen) vs Canada 3 (Flynn Mc Culloch 10th, Jagpreet Singh 24th, Leighton De Souza 29th)
Argentina 9 (Nehuen Ayala Gallo 6th, 20th, 38th, Facundo Navarro 4th, 24th, Agustin Ceballos 24th, 27th, Juan Eleicegui 1st, Maximiliano Valdes 19th) vs Guyana 5 (Robert France 14th, 23rd, Jamarj Assanah 15th, 33rd, Shakeem Fausette 5th)
Matches
Wednesday (March 20)
T&T vs USA, 3.45 pm
Canada vs Guyana, 7 pm
Argentina vs USA, 8.15 pm
Thursday (March 21)
Guyana vs T&T, 3.45 pm
USA vs Canada, 7 pm
T&T vs Argentina, 8.15 pm