Field Hockey Canada > Canadian men confident heading into quarter final at Champions Challenge

So far, so good for the Canadian men’s national field hockey team at the 2014 Champions Challenge I in Kuantan, Malaysia.

Despite dropping their final pool stage match versus host Malaysia, Canada (1W-1D-1L), ranked sixteenth in the world, finished second in Pool B and looks positively at its performance in the first three matches, which included a defeat of seventeenth ranked France (1W-0D-2L), and a thrilling draw with seventh ranked Korea (2W-1D-0L).

“Our play has been quite pleasing. We have been implementing the concepts we talk about and have been able to execute good plays with some success so far,” says head coach Anthony Farry. “We are starting to develop a real consistency to our performances which is something we’ll need to do in order for us to progress further in this tournament and future tournaments.”

The picture of consistency has been illustrated by team captain, Scott Tupper, who leads Canada, and is tied for second in the tournament, with three goals.

“I’ve felt pretty good so far,” says Tupper, who plays professionally in Belgium with Racing Club de Bruxelles. “It’s always a tough task to play in the heat and humidity, but I think I’ve been able to drive the attack from the back fairly effectively.”

Not only has Tupper been effective at creating offense, so have his teammates. With nine goals in three games, Canada is tied for second in tournament scoring with Korea, and sits only behind the vaunted New Zealand Black Sticks.

“Scoring three goals per game has been a good accomplishment, as in the past we’ve struggled at times to score goals in tournaments,” adds Tupper. “Tactically, we’ve been fairly solid, and now just need to tidy up one or two miscues per game in our half and we’ll be in good shape.”

In Thursday’s quarter final, Canada faces world number eighteen, Poland (1W-0D-2L), which is the lowest ranked team in the tournament and finished third in Pool A. The Poles did, however, manage an upset victory over fifteenth ranked Ireland and have always been a willing combatant in matches versus Canada.

“It will be a very tough game, we have had some close games against Poland in the last eighteen months and this will be no different,” says Farry. “They’re a quality side but we are also playing some great hockey so we’re very excited about facing them again.”

The winner of the Canada-Poland quarter final will have a tough task ahead in the semi final, likely facing the tournament’s top ranked team, world number six New Zealand, which faces host Malaysia in another quarter final.

Canada takes on Poland in the quarter final Thursday at 2:00amPST/5:00am EST. Live updates available on FIH Twitter feed.

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