With the field hockey competition at the 2015 Pan American Games set to kick off in less than twenty-four hours, it’s time to look at some of the key numbers.
Both Canada’s men’s and women’s National Teams will be looking to punch their tickets to the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil by winning gold at the Pan Ams.
Here what you need to know, and what’s fuelling our men and women by the numbers:
1 – One team from each gender will earn a ticket to the Rio 2016 Olympics by winning gold at the 2015 Pan Am Games
1 – One pair of siblings (Gordon and Shanlee Johnston) will be competing for Canada’s field hockey teams at the 2015 Pan Am Games
1 – Canada has won Pan Am Games field hockey gold one time on home soil (1999 in Winnipeg)
2 – Two active Canadian field hockey players (Scott Tupper and Mark Pearson) have competed in an Olympic Games
3 – Canada has hosted the Pan Am Games field hockey competition three times (1967 in Winnipeg, 1999 in Winnipeg, 2015 in Toronto)
3 – Canada’s women’s Pan Am Games field hockey roster has three players – Thea Culley (136), Abigail Raye (133), and Kate Gillis (133) – who have played in more than 100 international matches for Canada
4 – Men’s National Team defender David Jameson will be playing in his fourth Pan American Games in Toronto (others include 2011 in Guadalajara, 2007 in Rio, and 2003 in Santo Domingo)
4 – Canada’s men have won Pan Am field hockey gold four times (1983, 1987, 1999, 2007)
4 – Since 1987, Canada’s women’s field hockey team has won four medals total at the Pan Am Games (1 silver, 3 bronze)
6 – Canada’s men’s Pan Am Games field hockey roster has six players – David Jameson (225), Scott Tupper (209), Mark Pearson (176), Adam Froese (113), David Carter (111), Iain Smythe (104) – who have played in more than 100 international matches for Canada
7 – Seven members of the Canadian women’s Pan Am Games field hockey team are playing in their first Pan American Games
8 – Eight members of the Canadian Men’s National Team won silver at the 2011 Pan Am Games in Guadalajara, Mexico
9 – Nine members of the Canadian men’s Pan Am Games field hockey team are playing in their first Pan American Games
10 – The last ten Pan American Games men’s finals have featured Canada and Argentina
11 – Since 1967, Canada’s men’s field hockey team has won eleven medals total at the Pan Am Games (4 gold, 6 silver, 1 bronze)
12 – Members of the Canadian Women’s National Team won bronze at the 2013 Pan American Cup
15 – Canada’s men’s field hockey team enters the 2015 Pan American Games ranked fifteenth in the FIH World Rankings
16 – It was sixteen years ago (1999 in Winnipeg) that Canada’s women’s field hockey team last won a medal (bronze) at the Pan Am Games
20 – Canada’s women’s field hockey team enters the 2015 Pan American Games ranked twentieth in the FIH World Rankings
