On Monday, the Men’s Junior National Team will kick off their series against Team USA’s U-21 Men. These North American neighbours have met many times before. Exactly one year ago, Canada defeated the US in three of four matches, leaving one in a draw. In July the teams met again in a 3 Nations Tournament in Vancouver where Canada finished in first place. Canada and the US found themselves in different pools at the 2012 Pan American Junior Championship in Guadalajara, and never competed against each other. Canada went on to claim silver while the US finished in 4th place.
However, the Canadian roster has seen many changes since September.
“This tour to California will be a a great learning experience for us, including the new faces on the team,” says Defender Gordon Johnston. “They’ve really done well adapting to the change of pace in our practices. They now get a chance to play for Canada, which is exciting. Our most important goal for the series is to keep moving forward – to find an identity for this team, hopefully within the first few games. It will be very important to get positive results down there, but I think we need to develop and keep improving as team in each game. I can’t wait to suit up for Canada again. It’s always exciting and I’m looking forward to stepping on the pitch with some new guys.”
In case you missed the Men’s Junior National Team roster announcement last month, read on for everything you need to know about the upcoming series.
Follow @FieldHockeyCan on Twitter for updates throughout the series. Join the conversation with #MJNT.
Next week the Men’s Junior National Team will compete in a four match test series against the USA’s Junior National Squad in Moorpark, California. This will be Canada’s first competition since their silver finish at the Pan American Junior Championship in September.
As the Junior Squad continues building toward the 2013 Junior World Cup next December, the team welcomes a number of new and returning athletes to the roster. Liam Fannin, Tom Fannin and Oliver Scholfield will look to make their first international appearance. The roster will be anchored by five members of the Pan American Junior Championship Team; Taylor Curran, Gordon Johnston, Brenden Bissett, Tristan Burgoyne and Andrew Kanerva.
“The USA will be a tough opponent – they will definitely challenge us,” says Head Coach Mathias Ahrens. “As we prepare for the Junior World Cup, this series is an opportunity to gain valuable international experience as we integrate several new players.”
The roster was selected based on athlete performances at the Men’s National Identification Camp in early November.
“The depth of performance at the ID Camp was exceptional,” says Ahrens. “We were able to identify a number of talented athletes with strong abilities and enthusiasm. At the USA Series I will look to see who will continue to step up on the international level.”
Several familiar faces on the Men’s Junior National Squad competed with the Senior Men at the 2012 Champions Challenge 1 in Quilmes, Argentina last month and were not considered for this USA Series roster.
TEAM CANADA
Brenden Bissett (New Westminster, BC): Tristan Burgoyne (Vancouver, BC): Graeme Carswell (Tsawwassen, BC): Taylor Curran (North Vancouver, BC): Justin Dhaliwal (Surrey, BC): Liam Fannin (Vancouver, BC): Tom Fannin (Vancouver, BC): Gurteg Gill (Surrey, BC): Hermann Grewal (Surrey, BC): Gordon Johnston (Vancouver, BC): Andrew Kanerva (Tsawwassen, BC): Manvir Kingra (Surrey, BC): Tyler Klenk (Regina, SK): Sukhi Panesar (Surrey, BC): Kevin Pereira (Ajax, ON): Oliver Scholfield (Vancouver, BC): John Sharp (Victoria, BC): Tanveer Sidhu (Surrey, BC)
RESERVES: Sunny Aujla (Surrey, BC): Josh Brown (Victoria, BC): Akash Gill (Surrey, BC): Amit Kullar (Surrey, BC): CJ Roydhouse (Burnaby, BC)
STAFF TEAM
Mathias Ahrens (Head Coach): Alvin Bissett (Team Manager): Ryan Leaver (Physiotherapist)
SCHEDULE
Dec 17 @ 2:30pm PT (Canada vs USA)
Dec 18 @ 2:30pm PT (Canada vs USA)
Dec 20 @ 10:00am PT (Canada vs USA)
Dec 21 @ 10:00am PT (Canada vs USA)
