When Canada hits the field in the World League Round 2 semifinal Saturday afternoon in Trinidad and Tobago, captain Scott Tupper will be making history.
The 30 year-old native of Vancouver, British Columbia will be joining and exclusive club: one which only four Canadian men currently belong.
In Saturday’s semifinal against Russia, Tupper will be playing in his 250th senior international match for Canada.
His story is well-documented, but it’s far from complete.
And while he is quick to recognize others in his rise to the top of Canadian men’s field hockey’s food chain, those around him are more than happy to sing his praise as he reaches this milestone.
“Scott typifies the kind of person that makes our person successful,” says Men’s National Team Head Coach Anthony Farry. “He’s selfless, he works hard, and it’s all about the team.”
“I think over the last few years he’s had leadership thrust upon him and he’s had to take a different role. He’s not always the guy who will sit there and yell and bark orders, he’s more of ‘this is how I’m going to do it, and you can follow me.'”
An example of that came in 2015 at World League Round 2, when in his 200th match when the focus was on his achievements, Tupper netted a hat-trick in an important quarterfinal victory over Italy.
More recently, Tupper, who after being one of the youngest guys on the 2008 Olympic field hockey team, led the Canadian men back to the Games in 2016 as their captain. And in a tournament that didn’t go as well as planned up until that point, Tupper scored twice against 5th ranked India (7 spots higher than Canada) and led the Canadians to an impressive tie in the final match.
He has been to Olympic Games, World Cups, Pan Am Games, Commonwealth Games, and has played in many club leagues overseas.
There is no question that Scott Tupper will go down as one of the greatest Canadian field hockey players ever to play.
“Scott is hugely respected in the international hockey community, and these amount of games is not easy to come by, especially in Canada. So, it’s such a huge recognition for him.’
Field Hockey Canada congratulates Scott on a wonderful achievement, and thanks him for his tireless dedication to field hockey in Canadian.
