Canada Falls to Dutch Club for Second day in a Row 

February 24, 2011

The Canadian men’s national team played their fourth match of their San Diego tour Wednesday afternoon falling 5-2 to Dutch club Bloemendaal HC.  It was the two teams’ second match in as many days.

Both teams started off cautiously.  Bloemendaal’s crisp passing was able to spread the Canadian forward and midfield line and they were able to find gaps to attack.  The Canadian goaltender Geoff Houghton was tested early and made some key saves in the early moments of the match.

The Dutch Club continued to press creating several more opportunities but was unable to find the target.  Shots would zip wide of the net, or hit the outer-side board of the goal.

Bloemendaal opened the scoring in the 4th minute off a splendid individual effort by their forward to eliminate a Canadian defender. There was nothing Hoghton could do to stop the powerful shot that struck the backboard.

Canada equalized five minutes later. Pearson found himself at the top of the circle, thanks to some terrific Canadian ball movement, and passed the ball through a barrage of players to score on a stunned Bloemendaal keeper.

Canada broke down with six minutes to go in the half. Bloemendaal scored two penalty corner goals (one hit and one drag flick) as well as a field goal to go into half time up by three.

Canadian coach Robin D’Abreo must have hit a chord with his team during half time as the Canadians were much improved during the second half. Canada enjoyed much more possession and opportunities to attack. The Canadian defenders tightened up their man-to-man marking and were stingy in their offerings to the skilled Dutch Club side.

Each team traded goals in the final frame to end the game by a score of Bloemendaal 5 and Canada 2.

Game Roster:

Did Not Play: Antoni Kindler, Taylor Curran, Benjamin Martin, and Connor Meakin

Elliott Marsh   
Brendan Bissett   
Philip Wright   
Adam Froese   
Keegan Pereira   
Richard Hildreth   
Devonh Teixeira   
Gordon Johnston   
Kevin Laidman   
Nick Hignell   
Mark Pearson   
Ian Smythe  
Hudson Stewart   
Geoff Houghton (GK)   
Scott Tupper (C)    
Jesse Watson