Junior Men bring home silver medal and Junior World Cup Qualification
Field Hockey Canada’s junior women’s and junior men’s teams returned home this week from the 2026 Junior Pan American Cup in Santiago, Chile with strong performances punctuated by competitive results and important development opportunities.
The Junior Women faced a demanding one-pool round-robin format, playing five matches in pool play before a 5th place playoff. Competing against several higher-ranked nations, Canada showed steady progress throughout the event. The group earned a notable nil-nil draw against host nation Chile and a solid 2–0 victory over Mexico in pool play. The Wolf Pups finished the tournament with a convincing 4–0 win over Mexico in the 5th place match, securing a fifth-place finish overall.
North Vancouver’s Sydney Le stood out on the attacking side, contributing over half of Canada’s goals during the tournament. In goal, Robyn Goh and Pascale Pottier shared duties and delivered strong performances throughout, particularly as they faced lots of action against top-ranked opponents. The Canadian goalkeepers registered clean sheets against Mexico twice and kept Chile scoreless. While only the top four teams qualified for the Junior World Cup and Canada narrowly missed out, the tournament served as an important development experience. Many players built on past junior international experiences, while others earned their first junior caps, contributing to a promising pipeline for future junior and senior national teams.
Team Canada plays at the 2026 Junior Pan American Cup in Santiago, Chile. Photos/Rodrigo Jaramillo
The Junior Men delivered an excellent campaign, finishing the tournament with a silver medal and securing qualification for the 2027 Junior World Cup. Canada dominated pool play against Venezuela, Mexico, Brazil and had clutch wins over USA and Chile. Robin Thind, Navdip Chandi and Leighton De Souza led an impressive Canadian offense, while the team’s only pool loss came against top-ranked Argentina.
Canada advanced to the medal rounds after finishing second in the pool and defeated the United States again, this time in the semifinals, winning a shootout after a 3–3 draw. The winning shootout goal from Gauthier Callewart was a thing of beauty. In the final, Canada fell to Argentina, earning a well-deserved silver medal. Goalkeeper Morgan Garside played a key role throughout the tournament, making several critical saves in tight matches against the USA, Chile and Argentina. His performances earned him the PAHF Top Goalkeeper award for the tournament.
With the second-place finish, the Junior Men qualified for the 2027 Junior World Cup, marking Canada’s sixth consecutive qualification from the Pan American region.
The Canadian Junior Men win the silver medal at the 2026 Junior Pan American Cup in Santiago, Chile. Photos/Rodrigo Jaramillo
MEN’S RESULTS
| DATE | TIME | MATCHUP | RESULT |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mon April 6 | 1300 local time | CAN VS VEN | 12-0 W |
| Tues April 7 | 1600 local time | CAN VS MEX | 8-4 W |
| Thurs April 9 | 1600 local time | CAN VS BRA | 7-0 W |
| Fri April 10 | 1900 local time | CAN VS USA | 3-2 W |
| Mon April 13 | 1600 local time | CAN VS ARG | 1-5 L |
| Wed April 15 | 1900 local time | CAN VS CHI | 2-1 W |
| Fri April 17 | 12:15 local time | CAN vs USA (Semifinal) | 3-3 (4-2) W |
| Sat April 18 | 1700 local time | CAN vs ARG (FINAL) | 0-4 L (Silver medal finish) |
WOMEN’S RESULTS
| DATE | TIME | MATCHUP | RESULT |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mon April 6 | 1700 local time | CAN vs USA | 0-5 L |
| Wed April 8 | 1600 local time | CAN vs ARG | 1-8 L |
| Sat April 11 | 1900 local time | CAN vs CHI | 0-0 Draw |
| Mon April 13 | Noon local time | CAN vs URU | 0-4 L |
| Tues April 14 | 1700 local time | CAN vs MEX | 2-0 W |
| Saturday April 18 | 1015 local time | CAN vs MEX (5th place Match) | 4-0 W [5th palce finish] |
