U16 National Championship – Day 2 Update

Day two of the U16 Field Hockey Canada National Championships started off with a bang. With perfect sunny weather in Calgary, teams are coming into top form after the first day of competition.

The action kicked off with the men’s competition, with BC taking on Quebec. The game began with a furious pace, with both teams creating chances in the oppositions D. A 26^th min goal by Rajan Dhaliwal had BC ahead 1-0 at half. Strong push back from Quebec in the second half, and a 39^th min goal by Isaac Farion brought the game to 2-1 in favor of BC. Both teams traded goals in the last 10 minutes which left the final score at 3-2 for BC

Game 2 featured BC White and Ontario Red in the girl’s competition. Ontario Red came out of the gates strong, which forced the BC White girls to play some strong defense. In the 20^th minute Samantha McCrory scored a beautiful field goal, which was quickly followed by a second by Rachel Buttinger off a well worked PC in the 26^th minute. A late goal with 3 minutes’ left in the game by Jenna Berger proved to be too much for BC White, as the game finished 3-0 for Ontario Red.

In the 3^rd game of the day, BC Blue took on Ontario White on the girl’s side of the competition. This was a battle for first place in pool B. BC Blue came out strong with a 10^th minute goal by Tara Hamilton. With 8 minutes’ left in the game, a well worked penalty corner lead to a goal by Kuljit Sahota. The score remained 1-1 which left both teams atop of pool B. They are set to face each other in a tie-break shoot out competition Friday morning.

The 4^th match of the day was another game packed with action. It featured Alberta and Ontario Red on the boy’s side. Alberta was able to open the scoring in the 3rd minute with a goal through Tanveer Kullar. They doubled up in the 15^th with a well worked field goal. Ontario Red stormed back with goal in the 36^th and 55^th minute to bring the game level at 2. Seconds before the final whistle Vincent DeWaal made a beautiful run up the right side of the field around the outside of the defense which resulted in a sliding sweep him into the roof of the net. Alberta was victorious 3-2.

The fifth game of the day featured Ontario White and Quebec men. The first half proved to be a defensive battle, as both teams stood strong in the back field. With a half time score of 0-0, the teams came out strong in the 2^nd pushing forward for the go-ahead goal. A goal in the 50^th minute by Jeremie Fradette-Roy made it 1-0. The game finished 2-0 after a late 60^th minute goal by Tristan Philippe.

Game six featured the battle of British Columbia. BC Yellow took on BC White. BC Yellow came out of the gates strong with a 4^th minute goal from Leah Fourie. BC White was able to equalize quickly through a very nice flowing field goal from Anya Hermant in the 11^th minute. The deciding goal came in the 21^st minute as BC Yellow was able to find the back of the net off of a nicely worked penalty corner from Madeline Sherwood.

Next was game seven which featured Quebec and Ontario Red women. With Ontario Red in top form they were able to find the back of the net early with a 12^th minute goal by Jenna Berger. With goals in the 13^th, 18^th, 26^th and 29^th minute, Ontario Red went into halftime with a 5-0 lead. In the second half Quebec put up and a defensive wall and held Ontario to 2 goals. Annabelle Murray had a standout performance with many top notch saves keeping the score close. The match ended 7-0 in favor of Ontario.

The final game of the day featured the hometown Alberta boys playing against BC. With packed stands behind the Albertans, came out of the gates flying and taking a 1-0 lead at half time. Some serious back and forth action created quite the spectacle I the second half. At the full time whistle the final score read

Pool standings after day 2:

Boys:

1. BC                           7 points
2. Ontario White     6 points
3. Alberta                  4  points
4. Quebec                 3 points
5. Ontario Red        0 points

Girls: Pool A                                                    

1. Ontario Red 9 points
2. BC Yellow          6 points
3. BC White              3 points
4. Quebec 0 points

Pool B

T1. BC Blue                     4 points

T1. Ontario White          4 points

3. Alberta                         0 points

(BC Blue and Ontario White will do a shootout competition tomorrow morning to determine the pool standing)

Schedule for tomorrows matches – Friday July 22^nd

 8:30am Boys – Ontario White vs Ontario Red

10:05am Girls QF1 – 1^st B vs Quebec

11:50 Girls QF2 – BC Yellow vs Alberta

1:35pm Girls QF3 – 2^nd B vs BC White

3:20pm Boys – Quebec vs Alberta

4:45pm Boys – Ontario Red vs BC

6:20pm Girls Cons– Loser QF1 vs Loser QF2