The Canadian Junior Men’s National Team opened their four-game Under-21 series with the United States with a 5-2 win Tuesday night in Surrey.
Abbotsford’s Amrit Sidhu scored twice to lead the Canadian to victory in front of their home fans at Tamanawis Field.
Canada began the game a bit tentative and the United States were able to capitalize when Geoge McGiggan scored on a penalty stroke in the first quarter.
From that moment on, however, the Canadian stepped up the intensity and controlled the match for the majority of the game.
The first chance to tie the game came early in the second quarter when Brandon Pereira fired a heavy drag flick on goal on a penalty corner but was turned away.
With just over a minute to go in the first half, however, Canada was able to break through when Sidhu netted his first of the match on a deflection.
Seconds before half-tme, the Canadians took their first lead of the game when the ball found its way to a wide open Ganga Singh who put it in for the 2-1 lead at half.
The second half started as the first one ended, with Canada maintaing possession, but it was the States who got the first scoring chance.
A quick cross field pass found its way to a wide open U.S. attacker who surely had sights on a goal but was turned away by a diving Cameron Bonney, who came in at half time, splitting the Canadian goalkeeping duties with Liam Manning.
The Canadians were able to add two more before the end of the third quarter.
First, David Loy showed great patience with the ball before finding an open Tom Fannin who put it in for the 3-1 lead. And after a Balraj Panesar penalty stroke was stopped by the U.S. keeper, Sidhu got his second of the game before the end of the quarter.
Early in the fourth quarter, the U.S. got one back with a nice individual effort from Jaspreet Gill in the forty-seventh minute, but Canada quickly answered with a goal of their own in the fifty-third.
Panesar intercepted a U.S. clearning attempted before feeding Loy, who, at the top of the circle, threaded a pass to Vikram Sandhu behind the American defense. Sandhu’s calm and collected finish gave Canada it’s fifth of the match.
The second match of the four-game series takes place Tuesday at 5:45pm at Rutledge Field in West Vancouver.
