Men’s and Women’s teams kick-start their next build at Nations Cup
The Canadian senior national teams wrapped up the Nations Cup this weekend in Spain and Poland. Both teams brought young, hungry groups to their respective tournaments and made huge developmental strides through competition. The Nations Cup marks the first push towards the 2026 World Cup and 2028 Olympic Games.
Men’s National Team wins two straight to close out in fifth place
The Red Caribou returned to the Nations Cup for a second time in two years, previously competing in South Africa at the inaugural event. Canada went winless in pool play, dropping matches to France, Pakistan and Malaysia. The team then won back-to-back games to close out the tournament and finish in 5th place, defeating Austria in an exciting shootout match, then beat Korea to end the tournament.
Head coach, Patrick Tshutshani was proud of how his team bounced back and grew each game. He said they finished strong, generating attacking motion and finished w
“For us, it’s been the resilience of how to play the game at this level. There’s lots more work to put in, but you can see the work we’ve done up until now,” he said. “We have a theme: ‘what’s tough for us, is good for us.’ That has been how we’ve been learning to play these game. And you can see how we’ve been able to gain this experience, which is great.”
NOTES AND HIGHLIGHTS:
- Hudson Loh, Manna Sahota, Maan Sidhu and Leighton De Souza played in their first senior international matches during the Nations Cup.
- Canada scored six goals through five games, with six different goal scorers.
- Roop Dhillon, Maan Sidhu, Jude Nicholson, Thomson Harris and Hudson Loh all scored their first international goals.
- Canada finished fifth place, jumping three slots from last Nations Cup appearance.
The Men’s National Team at the FIH Nations Cup in Poland. Photos/WORLDSPORTPICS FRANK UIJLENBROEK
Women’s National Team takes jump each match
The Women’s National Team first traveled to Scotland to get some friendly matches against Scotland under their belt prior to the start of the Nations Cup. They then traveled down to Terrassa, Spain, where they were in a pool with Japan, Chile and New Zealand. Despite going winless in group-stage, Canada showed their defensive prowess. Coming out of the pool, Canada matched up against Korea (who last defeated Canada twice at the World Cup in 2022). Canada got their revenge, defeating Korea in a thrilling shootout with Anna Mollenhauer scoring two shootout goals to seal it. The win was validating of the growth and work Canada had put forth on the tour. Despite losing a tight 1-0 game to Japan to close out the tournament, it was clear the team had made major strides throughout the event.
New Head coach, Sheldon Rostron said the team made progress in each game but he’s proud of their ability to establish a strong defensive base
“We’ve slowly but surely got the confidence to build from the back and attack forward,” Rostron said. “It’s been a good transition, only a couple weeks together a group. They’ve been absorbing information really well. I’m really proud of what the team has done and i think there’s a lot more still to happen with this team.”
NOTES AND HIGHLIGHTS:
- Canada took a team with an average cap-count of 34. Karli Johansen is the only player on the team with triple-digit caps at 174.
- Julia Ross, Brooke McCusker and Nora Goddard-Despot all received their first CAP for Team Canada. Nora scored her first international goal. Sara Goodman also scored her first international goal at the Nations Cup.
- This was the first tour for Sheldon Rostron as head coach of the Women’s National Team.
- Both Anna Mollenhauer and Elise Wong Reached 50 caps during this tour. Anna vs Scotland during the test-matches and Elise during Canada’s shootout win vs Korea.
- This was the women’s national team’s first appearance at the FIH Nations Cup
The Women’s National Team competes at the FIH Nations Cup in Terrassa. Worldsportpics/ Rodrigo Jaramillo
