Gold Medal: Trinidad & Tobago 7 v Argentina 0
The final match would determine the Mens Pan American representative in the 2018 Indoor World Cup. Trinidad & Tobago started quickly with a penalty corner drive by Soloman Eccles saved by Guillermo Luna. The rebound was emphatically thumped home by Mickell Pierre to launch TTO into an early lead.
TTO conceded a penalty corner and the Agustin Ceballos shot was ran down by Ron Alexander in the TTO goal. The next corner was also stopped by Alexander to preserve the margin. Argentina were pressed and lost possession in the circle, Akim Toussaint stepped up and blasted a ball home to double the margin.
Argentina down a man with Alexis Bull off for a minute made an interception by Joaquin Gonzalez. He was tackled poorly by Soloman Eccles which resulted in a green card for Eccles and an Argentinian penalty corner. Sosa fired that opportunity wide and looked unhappy with his effort.
With time running down in the first half, TTO struck again with Mickell Pierre being the beneficiary of a slick passing play to give TTO a comfortable 3-0 half time lead.
Argentina had a steep hill to climb in the second half and that was made steeper with an early penalty corner conversion by Soloman Eccles. They built on this lead through clever passing and finishing by Marcus James. Next chances came for Trinidad & Tobago’s Aidan de Gannes with two quick chances that Demonte athletically saved.
TRI continued to press even as the game became out of reach for Argentina. Akim Toussaint scored on a quick spin shot followed by a de Gannes tally to make it 7-0. TRI had the luxury of celebrating even before the final horn. Trinidad & Tobago book their trip to the Indoor World Cup with a dominating 7-0 victory over Argentina
Bronze Medal: Canada 4 v Guyana 2
The pool match between these teams was a thrilling 8-5 victory for Canada. The home crowd here at Cliff Anderson Sports Hall was looking for a different result this time. Robert France got the home side off to an amazing start when he struck high into the goal to put Guyana up by one. Canada turned things around on a blistering corner shot by Jonathan Roberts to tie things up.
Guyana pushed forward and were denied on two attempts by Canadian keeper Adam Kapasi. On the counter a mistake by Medroy Scotland was quickly converted by Devohn Teixeira. Guyana countered on the fast break and a sliding finish by Andrew Stewart evened things up again. The teams went to the break 2-2.
Guyana started strong in the second half and were boosted in numbers with a card by Gurtej Dhaliwal. Kapasi made an amazing save on a Guyana deflection. Canada was on their heels but Ken Pereira was able to escape a trap and on the counter attack Dhaliwal earned a corner that was ran down by Medroy Scotland in the Guyanese goal. Canada continue the pressure and a slick passing play found Dhaliwal open at the top to slide the ball under Scotland to give Canada the lead.
Guaya tried to come back quickly and on their next penalty corner the direct strike by Adrien d’Andrade was effectively run down by Kapasi. Their next attempt had Andrew Stewart striking wide on the layoff.
A solid counter attack by Tyler Branco led to a Canadian penalty corner that was blasted into the roof of the goal by Jonathan Roberts. Buyana pressed forward and it was Kapasi holding back the pressure with consecutive saves. The next corner was optioned well by Guyana but Jonathan Roberts made an amazing save on the line. Guyana pulled their keeper with 2 minutes to play but it would be Canada day as they carried the score 4-2 to take home the Bronze medal
Fifth Place: Barbados 6 v Mexico 4
The fifth place match featured teams that kept improving throughout the competition. Mexico were winless and started out quickly with a goal from Chrishopher Vigueras. This was countered by Che Warner in the 5th. Then we had the best stretch of hockey from Mexico in the competition. Over the next 15 minutes they scored 3 goals including two from captain Alan Baas to give them a commanding 4-1 lead.
Barbados made sure that wasn’t the end of the script. They went on a 5 goal stretch including two by Akeem Rudder and a closing deflection goal by Dave Cox playing in his last game for Barbados. They take fifth place with a stunning 6-4 come from behind victory.
Player of the Tournament: Jonathan Roberts (CAN)
Goalkeeper of the Tournament: Medroy Scotland (GUY)
Leading Goalscorer: Jonathan Roberts (CAN ), 14 goals
Junior Player of the Tournament: Juan Eleicegui (ARG)
