Stalwart defender and dragflicker finishes career with 208 caps and 74 goals
We know Gordon Johnston as an all-time great Canadian men’s field hockey player. He has 208 caps, he’s played in two Olympic Games, the World Cup and every other top tournament in the world. He’s a captain, a leader, a drag flick specialist. But what we might not realize, is that it wasn’t a simple journey to the pinnacle of the sport. He remembers early in his career; being told he may not have what it takes to play at the top level.
Johnston had a crack at the senior national team as a teen in 2011, earning his first set of caps. After that, he was playing Juniors and being left off senior rosters. He was told that his game was impulsive, that he didn’t have the maturity in his game to play at the elite level. He said it was a two-year struggle to figure out how he could fit in and influence games in a positive way. In 2014, at a four-nations tournament in Chile, he said there was a critical moment.
“I had a horrible first game. I played impulsively; I gave the ball away a lot. It didn’t feel good, and I was told by the coaches at the time that my game wasn’t conducive to international hockey,” he said. “That night, I thought hard about what I could do. I simplified it down to three key themes.”
Johnston said he distilled his game down to moving the ball quickly, moving his feet quickly and staying engaged in tackles, whether he made them or not. The following day, he felt like he had cracked the code. Canada played against Argentina that day and he said he had the best game of his career up until that point.
“I look back on that game as a moment I learned how to get more out of myself. From that point forward, I felt like I was having a positive impact on games,” he said.
2014 marked the turning point in his career. He felt he belonged on this team. From that moment on, he never missed a tour (barring injury or self-selection) again in his career. Johnston shot up through the national team ranks and became a much relied on member of the team.
Johnston went on to have one of the most successful men’s hockey careers in Canadian history. He played in two Commonwealth Games, two Pan American Cups, three Pan American Games, two Olympic Games, and a World Cup. He’s second all-time in goals scored for Team Canada in the modern era. He was a team captain, a leader and a mentor.
For the better part of his career, Johnston was a drag-flick specialist. He was a part of the one-two punch with Scott Tupper at the top of the D. When Tupper retired, Johnston was Canada’s single most deadly weapon in the penalty corner set. As a stalwart defender for Canada and a dragflicker, Johnston had major impacts on both sides of the game. He said when he was younger, he saw that an ace-dragflicker can influence the game in a big way.
“Teams that were successful were good at the penalty corner. I watched a lot of hockey, and I could see this. I spent so much time working on that skill to be able to do it at a high level,” he said. “If you work on any technical skill, you’ll have success, eventually. I chose to do this because it helped our team win games.”
More than a few times in Johnston’s career, he’d have a pair of PC goals and some crucial stops in his own circle. Johsnton was a full-field player who impacted the game on both sides.
Johnston reflects on key moments in his career. Like many of his teammates and members of his cohort from the 2010s, he identifies the qualification tournaments as landmark moments for him. He said the 2015 World League qualification event that earned them a spot at the Rio by way of an epic shootout, was a culmination of the years hard work the team had put in.
“We had confidence, we knew our path. We had leaders who had been there before and everyone stepped up and contributed,” he said. “We worked so hard to get to that moment. Years of being relentless in our pursuit. Then the moment we won — it was the release of tension, the euphoria and crying, the payoff for so much work.”
Then again in 2019, the team defied the odds, and came back to defeat Ireland on home-soil. Johnston remembers that moment being particularly special because his friends and family were all in attendance. “It was an extremely memorable two days at Rutledge. In front of friends and family, to be able to succeed in a moment like that. It’s a game of millimetres and milliseconds,” Johnston said.
As Johnston retires from international hockey, he said the people stand out more than the on-field moments. He said even though he may not miss getting up at 5am for practice, he said he’ll miss the daily grind with the team. That and touring different parts of the world with his best friends.
“It’s impossible to pick just one moment from a whole career,” he said, reminiscing about the special times with his teammates. “We loved finding a local coffee shop on tour, we’d go for walks, sit and chat while we’re in a different country. We’d meet local people and see parts of countries and cities that aren’t the tourist spots. We’d get to meet the hockey community in different countries. It made it all the more special.”
Johnston retires at the beginning of a new Olympic quadrennial, knowing the time was right. He said it was always going to be a difficult decision but feels he made the right choice at the right time for him. He said, that he’ll never be out of hockey forever, but for now he‘s going to focus on his career as an engineer, and other things he’s interested in, but hasn’t previously had the time to pursue.
Congratulations Gordon on a one-of-a-kind career in Canadian hockey!
