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Field Hockey Canada freely gives permission to use FHC News Releases and Newsletters, either in whole or part, for any publication or distribution. The most recent News Releases are listed first.
 

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 14/3/97. Canada defeated Malaysia 3 - 1 at the Qualifying Tournament finishing 5th and winning a berth in the men's World Cup in Holland in 1998. The Canadian Team coach, Shiaz Virjee, was pleased with the team's performance particularly today since the team has played four matches in the last five days.

Both Canada and Malaysia played late Thursday evening in matches that decided their entry into the 1998 World Cup. Today's game was close with both teams clearly tired from their critical matches played the previous day. Canada's goals were all scored in the first half of the match. Canada's first two goals came on penalty corners from Peter Milkovich of Vancouver. The third goal was a field goal scored by Robin D'Abreo of Toronto. Mike Mahood finished off the tournament for Canada in net.

The six teams advancing from this tournament finalize the entries for the 1998 World Cup. The 12 countries are: Australia, Germany, Holland, England (not GB), India, Pakistan, South Korea, Spain, Poland, New Zealand, Canada and Malaysia.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 12/3/97. 21.00 Hrs. By beating Argentina 2 - 0 at the Qualifying Tournament here today Canada took a berth in the men’s field hockey World Cup in to be played in Holland in 1998. "It is a great achievement for field hockey in Canada," said national coach Shiaz Virjee of Vancouver at the post-game news conference.

Today’s game came 48 hours after Canada unexpectedly lost to Switzerland which removed an automatic qualification. As fourth in Pool A Canada was paired against the third nation in Pool B, the long-time rival of Argentina with only the winner advancing. The first half of today’s game was very even with both teams have scoring opportunities. The Canadian defensive unit was particular strong in turning back the Argentina attack with Hari Kant, of Ottawa, in goal making some brilliant saves. At the mid point of the first half Peter Milkovich of Vancouver scored a goal with a dazzling shot from about ten yards. The score was 1 - 0 for Canada at half time.

In the second half Canada assumed more control and continually frustrated the Argentina attack with its greater ball handling and longer possession. A foul on a Canadian attacker, at about the 50 minute mark, saw the award of a penalty corner which Milkovich converted with a wrist-shot (flick) for his second goal of the evening. The game ended with Argentina scoreless.

Canada will play either Malaysia or Belgium for the 5th / 6th place in the tournament tomorrow but since the top six teams in the tournament qualify for Holland ’98 the game will only determine rankings.

In order to enter the Qualifying Tournament Canada defeated 12 other nations such as Italy, Egypt and the United States at the Pre-Qualifying Tournament in Sardinia in October 1997. Canada stood second overall in Sardinia (top 5 of the 14 nations advanced to the next round of the present tournament in Kuala Lumpur).

Nations that have now qualified for the men’s field hockey World Cup are: Australia, Germany, Holland, England (not GB), India, Pakistan, South Korea, Spain, Poland, New Zealand, Canada and either Malaysia or Belgium. Canada is the sole representative of the Americas.

Canada last played, and lost, to Argentina in the final of the Pan American games in Mar del Plata in 1995. Both countries have long been rivals for the filed hockey dominance of the Americas. The balance has tend to tip in favor of Argentina with its very large base of players and greater resource commitment to the sport. Today’s Canadian victory will be regarded as catastrophic news in South America.

Field Hockey Canada’s Intenet site address is:

http://www.cyberus.ca/~fieldhockey/

CANADA have a big hurdle to clear to get into the World Cup Finals next year. They will be up against Argentina, who have not missed any of the previous eight Finals.

Defeat for Canada today in the fifth-eighth place match will mean that they have to sit out another Finals.

In the last qualifying tournament for the 1994 World Cup in Sydney, they were denied a place by South Africa.

Canadian coach Shiaz Virjee is feeling the pressure.

"We are up against the strong Argentinans and we can't afford to make mistakes. It will be tough to beat them. They are fast and skilful," said Virjee.

He added that Argentina had very strong forwards, who scored a the highest number of goals (22) in the preliminary rounds.

"Jorge Lombi is their top scorer and we have to mark him closely," said Virjee.

"To win the match, my boys have to rise to the occasion and deliver the goals."

Canada last played in the World Cup Finals in Lahore in 1990 and finished 11th.

Argentinian coach Marcello Garraffo reiterated that it would be a disaster if his team failed to qualify for the Finals.

"We are the favourites to win the match. But my players will be under pressure. They cannot afford to lose this match and have to play their hearts out," said Garaffo.

"It will be a disaster if we fail to qualify."

Garraffo added that Argentina would have to get an early goal to ease the pressure to win the match.

CANADA blew their chance of automatic qualification for the World Cup in Holland next year when they lost 2-3 to Switzerland in their last Group A preliminary round match last night.

With this defeat, Canada only have six points from five matches while the Swiss have five points from as many matches.

Canada finished fourth in Group A and now face Argentina in the classification play-offs.

Switzerland, meanwhile, finished fifth in the group and are out of the World Cup. They have yet to play in the World Cup.

The Canadians had only themselves to blame for yesterday's defeat as they swarmed the Swiss defence from the start but failed to convert the many chances that came their way in the first half.

Swiss goalkeeper Adrian Berger was easily the man of the match, pulling off some fine saves to deny the Canadians.

Canada got off to a good start, peppering the Swiss goal with four good attempts, only to find Berger standing his ground.

Neither team managed to score in the first half.

In the second half, as the Canadians pushed forward in search of goals, the Swiss stunned them with two goals in three minutes.

Christian Cavallet drew first blood for Switzerland when he scored off a penalty corner in the 40th minute.

Two minutes later, skipper Thierry Grandchamp made it 2-0 off a goalmouth melee.

Two goals down and a sure place in the World Cup fast fading, Canada hit back.

First, Marek Gacek reduced the deficit when he scored off their fourth penalty corner in the 50th minute. Then, Peter Milkovich levelled the score, also from a penalty corner, in the 61st.

Suddenly, their World Cup hopes were revived.

With just a minute to go, Switzerland's Beni Steinemann broke Canadian hearts with a clinical piece of finishing.

Spain secure W-Cup berth after beating South Africa

CANADA threw Group A wide open with a convincing 5-2 win over Poland at the Bukit Jalil Hockey Stadium last night.

With Spain having qualified from the group, Canada will battle it out with Poland and Malaysia for the other automatic berth from the group to the 1998 World Cup.

Spain secured their berth to Holland when they defeated South Africa 2-1 last night to top the group with 12 points.

With the win, the Canadians now have six points from four matches. Their last match is against winless Switzerland.

SAVED ... Canadian skipper Patrick Burrows (centre) scrambles the ball away from the penalty box in the match against Poland yesterday. Canada won 5-2 to bounce back into the reckoning. -- STARpic by S.S. Kanesan

As for the Poles, they also have six points and will take on winless South Africa in their last match.

Hosts Malaysia have seven points and their last match is against Olympic silver medallists Spain.

In last night's match, Poland took the lead with a goal in the seventh minute through Piotr Mikula. Canadian goalkeeper Hari Kant fumbled while trying to clear the ball and Mikula dashed in to score the goal.

However, Poland's joy was shortlived. In the 10th minute, Canada were awarded a penalty stroke and Peter Milkovichmade made no mistake from the spot.

The Canadians kept up the pressure and Chris Gifford made it 2-1 from close range in the 17th minute.

Six minutes before half-time, Ken Pereira deflected the ball past goalkeeper Pawel Sobczak to make it 3-1 for Canada.

The Canadians continued to pile on the pressure after the breather. They were rewarded with a fourth goal in the 39th minute when Rob Short scored with a reverse stick hit.

Short was on target again in the 55th minute when he blasted home a Chris Gifford cross.

A minute from time, Poland scored a consolation goal through a penalty corner conversion by S. Lukaszewski for a 5-2 scoreline.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 10/3/97. 21.00 Hrs. Canada improved its chances for a berth in the men’s field hockey World Cup in 1998 by beating Poland 5 - 2 in the Qualifying Tournament here today.

Before the start of today’s game world-wide attention was focused on the Canadian team captain, Patrick Burrows of Toronto, as he was singled out for special honors by the President of the Fédération Internationale de Hockey, Juan Angel Calzado. The game marked the 200th time (caps) that Patrick Burrows has played for the Canadian team (bio follows). Only a handful of players in world hockey history have played so many international matches. Special presentations were also made by his team-mates and they dedicated the game to him. The event was also attended by a huge press corps and extensive television coverage.

The tempo of today’s match was established in the first 20 seconds when Canadian striker Andrew Griffiths of Toronto broke through the Polish defense and rattled a hard shot off the goal-post. Although Poland registered the first goal against the run of play the Canadian team was in complete game control. Peter Milkovich of Vancouver counted the first Canadian goal on a penalty stroke at the 7 minute mark. . Chris Gifford of Vancouver was next with a deflection into the Polish net followed a few minutes later by spectacular high rising shot by Ken Peirera of Toronto. The score was 3 - 1 at half time.

Rob Short of Victoria, BC claimed both of Canada’s goals in the second half as Canada maintained the pressure on the Polish defense. Short’s goal at the 39 minute mark was a hard backhand shot which had the crowd on its feet. Poland took a goal back in the dying minute of the game with a penalty corner.

Hari Kant of Ottawa was in net for Canada.

In other Pool A games Spain beat South Africa by 2 - 1.

Today’s results mean that Canada at a minimum has made the top four nations of Pool A. Victories tomorrow (11/3/97) by Canada over Switzerland, by Spain over Malaysia and South Africa over Poland - all possible given the world ranking of the teams - would see Canada in overall second place and assured a World Cup berth. Any other combination of results would could drop Canada to no worse than fourth. The third and fourth teams of Pools A and B play cross-over semi-finals for the last two World Cup slots.

Canada plays Switzerland at 18:00 Hrs local time tomorrow (11/3/97).

Biography

Patrick Burrows Captain, Canadian Team

Born: November 5, 1959 in Barrie, Ontario

Current Residence: Mississauga, Ontario.

Current occupation: teacher - on leave from North York School Board

Club: Toronto F.H.C.

International Caps (senior): 200 as of 10/3/97

Major Competitions

1981 Intercontinental Cup, Kuala Lumpur 1983 Pan American Games, Caracas 1984 Olympic Games, Los Angeles 1985 Intercontinental Cup, Barcelona 1986 World Cup, London 1987 Pan American Games, Indianapolis 1988 Olympic Games, Seoul 1989 Intercontinental Cup, Madison, USA 1990 World Cup, Lahore, Pakistan 1995 Pan American Games, Mar del Plata 1996 Olympic Qualifier, Barcelona 1996 World Cup Preliminary, Sardinia

A photograph of Patrick Burrows may be downloaded from the FHC Internet Web site - see National Teams, Player Profiles. The address is:

http://www.cyberus.ca/~fieldhockey/

KUALA LUMPUR: Spain virtually booked a berth in the World Cup next year when they beat Canada 2-0 in a lacklustre match at the Bukit Jalil Stadium yesterday.

It was the Spaniards third consecutive victory in Group A.

Javier Arnau again showed why he is a top poacher when he scored both goals - one in each half.

Arnau has scored six goals and is the leading marksman in the tournament. And Spain have only scored seven goals so far.

Spain, who had earlier beaten Switzerland 4-1 and Poland 1-0, have two matches left - against South Africa and Malaysia.

For Canada, the defeat has not diminished their chances although it was their second loss. They have still to play Poland and Switzerland and could still qualify for the play-offs.

Although it was Canada who took the initiative in the first half, the Spaniards slowly controlled play, allowing the Canadians only one good look at goal.

That came in the fifth minute when Andrew Griffiths collected a long pass and ran into the D before he was stopped by goalkeeper Ramon Jufresa.

In the 12th minute, Spain took the lead off a penalty corner.

Instead of taking a direct hit, the ball was relayed to Arnau, whose flick sailed past Hari Kant.

Spain had several good chances after that but muffed them all.

Juan Escarre was in the thick of action for Spain but Canadian goalkeeper Hari Kant was in great form, pulling off several excellent saves.

The second half did not see any changes in the playing pattern although Canada had more chances at goal.

But Spanish goalkeeper Jufresa was also in good form and denied them.

Just when it seemed like the score was likely to stay at 1-0, Arnau struck again in the 65th minute.

This time Escarre set off on a solo run and beat two Canadians in the D. He then passed the ball to Arnau to put the finishing touch.

Spain: Ramon Jufresa, Joaquin Malgosa, Jorge Arnau, Juan De Dios, Jaime Amat, Juan Escarre, Victor Pujol, Javier Arnau, Ramon Sala, Pablo Amat, Pablo Usoz, Jordi Casas, Jose Sanchez.

Canada: Hari Kant, Ian Bird, Alan Brahmst, Chris Gifford, Pattrick Burrows, Ken Periera, Rob Short, Peter Milkovich, Andrew Grifiths, Bubli Chohan, Rick Roberts, Marek Gacek, Rob Edamura, Robin D'Abreo, Bindi Kullar.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 8/3/97. 21.00 Hrs. Canada lost the important third pool-round game to Spain - the Olympic Silver Medalist - by a score of 2 - 0 in the men’s field hockey World Cup Qualifying Tournament.

The first half of the game was marked by Spanish control and a score from a penalty corner. After the break Canada dominated throughout but was unable to score despite many good shots on goal and several penalty corners. On a quick counter-attack Spain scored at the 69th minute. Immediately afterward a tropical storm with torrential rain and lighting cause the game to be delayed for 45 minutes. On the resumption of play, Canada had three good goal scoring opportunities but could not put the ball passed the Spanish goalie.

Hari Kant of Ottawa was in net for Canada and made some fine saves throughout the game.

The loss to Spain means that Canada must win the last two pool games against Poland (10/3/97) and Switzerland (11/3/97) in order to keep its chances of advancing in the competition alive. Only the top six teams in the twelve nation tournament qualify for the World Cup.

Spain is currently the Pool A leaders with three wins.

The Malaysia Star

CANADIAN player Marek Gacek will be allowed to play in the next match although he received a red card in the match against Malaysia on Thursday.

Gacek was shown the red card for hitting Malaysian defender Kerpal Singh in an off-the-ball incident in the second half.

However, tournament director Bob Davidson of Holland said that after watching the video recording, he felt the red card was not justified.

"I saw the video recording together with the umpire and feel that Kerpal went for Gacek. He (Gacek) did not purposely hit Kerpal," said Davidson.

"Kerpal made it look like he was intentionally hit. So I decided to allow Gacek to play in the next match."

CANADA pulled off an amazing fightback by scoring three goals in the last five minutes to edge South Africa 5-4 in a crucial Group A match at the Bukit Jalil Hockey Stadium yesterday.

The win gave a tremendous boost to the morale of the Canadians ahead of their tie against Malaysia at the same venue today.

Although the Canadians started off well, they fell behind to two easy goals in the 18th and 19th minutes.

Both the South Africans goals was scored by Greg Nicol. The first came off a penalty corner setpiece while the second was a deflection off a cross by Shaun Cooke.

The Canadians stormed back to reduce the deficit in the 28th minute off a field attempt by Marek Gacek.

But poor defending in the early stages of the second half saw them falling further behind.

Two goals from Gregg Clark off a penalty corner in the 47th minute and with Mike Cullen on target two minutes later, put the South Africans well on the road to victory.

Even when Canada scored in the 52nd minute through Andrew Griffiths the South Africans seemed to have the match under control.

But things changed drastically in the last 10 minutes as the Canadians swarmed their opponent's half.

Skipper Peter Milkovich sparked the great fightback with a field goal in the 65th minute. And in the next four minutes Chris Gifford and Griffiths scored in the 67th and 69th minutes repectively to earn them three points.

Canada coach Shiaz Virjee summed up his team's performance by saying that no match is over until the final whistle is blown.

"When you are involved in a major event you just do not give up until the game is really over. My players proved that they have what it takes to win. It was a great fightback.

"The South Africans are good and played some excellent hockey. But in the end we took our chances well to win," he said.

For South Africa coach Giles Bonnet, the result was a disappointment after leading for most part of the match.

"We still have a long way to go and I do not see this defeat as stopping us from qualifying. We have been in that situation before in 1993 and we still managed to qualify."

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 6/3/97. 21.00 Hrs. Canada met its old rival Malaysia in the second pool match of the men’s field hockey World Cup Qualifier here today but was unable to overcome the home-side losing 4 - 1.

In a sold-out stadium, and with an estimated television audience many million in 30 countries, the Canadian squad took a first half lead of 1 - 0 with a field goal from Rob Short of Victoria.

In the second half Malaysia picked up their game and with a very pressing attack, and with Canada short-handed due to several minor penalties (yellow cards), the Malaysia team scored four unanswered goals. For the Canadian team playing its second game in 24 hours the energy was simply not there in the second half.

Mike Mahood from Vancouver played in net for Canada and saved a penalty stroke against Malaysia in the second half..

Canada, Malaysia and Poland are now tied with 3 points each in Pool A in second position while Spain leads with 6 points (2 wins). Pool B leaders are New Zealand and Korea each with 6 points (2 wins).

The Canadian Team now prepares for its third tournament game against Spain on Saturday (20:30 Hrs. 8/3/97. Local time Malaysia). Following games are against: Poland and Switzerland.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 5/3/97. 21.00 Hrs. Canada beat South Africa, one of the favourites, by a score of 5 - 4 in today’s first match of the Men's World Cup Qualifying Tournament here this evening. In the twelve (12) nation competition the top six (6) advance to the World Cup in Holland in May 1998.

The game began with Canada controlling the first 17 minutes of play. South Africa was, however, the first to score from a penalty corner and then followed that up 2 minutes later with a well-taken goal from open field play. Canada regained its composure and at 28 minutes into the game Marek Gacek of Vancouver scored to leave a half-time score of 2 - 1 for South Africa.

Immediately after the half-time break South Africa repeated their success of the first half and scored both a penalty corner goal and a goal from open-field play in rapid succession. At the 49 minutes of the game the score was 4 - 1 for South Africa. Then began what Shiaz Virjee, National Team Coach from Vancouver, called "one of the very most exciting periods of field hockey for the Canadian Team ever." Striker Andrew Griffiths of Toronto scored a goal to reduce the Canadian deficit at the 52 minute mark. A key goal was then set up by right-wing forward Chris Gifford of Vancouver who passed the ball to his Vancouver clubmate Peter Milkovich who took a hard flick (wrist shot) high into the South African goal from 16 yards. It was a world-class goal. Shortly after Gifford himself scored on a penalty corner to even the score. With the South African short handed for 5 minutes due to a penalty, Canada kept pressing its advantage and at the 69 minute mark Andrew Griffiths fired hard and high into the South African net, off a rebound from the goalkeeper’s pads, for the game-winning goal.

Mike Mahood from Vancouver played in net for Canada.

By S. Ramaguru. KUALA LUMPUR:28/2/97. The feud of 1996 is a thing of the past as far as the Canadians are concerned.
Instead, Canada, who arrived for the pre-World Cup hockey tournament yesterday, want a cordial relationship with Malaysia. Last year, the Canadians had alleged that Malaysia and India had "fixed" their game in the pre-Olympics in Barcelona.

That led to a lot of bad blood between the hockey teams of the two countries.

Yesterday, though, Canadian coach Shiaz Virjee took pains to explain that they were no longer dwelling on the past. He said they were thinking only of hockey and qualifying for the World Cup.

Canadian coach Shiaz Virjee (right) talking to his players on their arrival at the Subang airport yesterday. Canada and Malaysia have been drawn in the same group for the pre-World Cup.

In the pre-Olympics, Malaysia and India played to a 0-0 draw. That result put paid to Canada's chances of making the cut. And they raised a storm.

The International Hockey Federation (FIH) later investigated the allegations and cleared both India and Malaysia of any wrongdoing.

Malaysia and Canada have been drawn in the same group for the pre-World Cup and will clash on March 6.

At the airport, Virjee refused to be drawn into making any comments on the feud or the match with Malaysia.

Instead, he kept insisting that Canada would only look forward.

"Nothing else matters. This is 1997 and we would rather look forward. That incident is a closed chapter," he said.

The match against Malaysia, he said, was just one of five matches that they would have to play in the preliminary round.

"We are in a tough group and every team will be a difficult opponent.

"Take our first match against South Africa. They denied us a place in the Sydney World Cup when they beat us in Poland in 1993.

"They will be tough to beat. Then we go up against Malaysia. They will have home ground advantage.

"Similarly the other three teams are also strong. Every team want to qualify," added Virjee.

As part of their preparations, Canada played some friendly matches against club sides in Singapore for the last four days.

"Our preparations at home have been disappointing because of the winter.

"It is cold back home and we have not been able to prepare well. Mostly, it has been indoor sessions," said Virjee.

Canada's last appearance in the World Cup was in 1990 in Lahore where they finished 11th.

Presently the Men's National Team is in Malaysia preparing to play in the 9th Men's World Cup Preliminary in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This is the qualifying event for the World Cup to be held in Utrecht, Netherlands on 21 May -1 June, 1998. The first six (6) ranked teams in the Kuala Lumpur competition will qualifying for the World Cup.

There are 12 countries participating with 2 pools of 6 teams each as follows:

POOL A: CANADA, Malaysia, Poland, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland

POOL B: Argentina, Belarus, Belgium, Ireland, Korea, New Zealand

The tournament is a round-robin in each pool and then a cross-over. Check the attached for the schedule.

Six nations have already qualified for the World Cup by virtue of their previous World Cup and Olympic Games standings. They are: Australia, Germany, Holland, Great Britain, India and Pakistan.

Up-to-date tournament information is available on the Field Hockey Canada Internet Home Page. The Home Page also features a link to real time Internet game by game coverage. The FHC Home Page address is:

All of the games are televised (although not distributed in North America) and at least thirty countries are presenting live broadcasts of some tournament games. Huge television audiences are expected.

In order to qualify for the Kuala Lumpur Qualifier Canada had to battle through earlier qualification rounds. In October 1996 in Sardinia, Italy the Canadian team placed second in a fourteen nation competition (of which the top five advanced to Kuala Lumpur). The Canadian team went through the Sardinia tournament without a loss in regulation time losing only the final to New Zealand on tie-breaking penalty shots. Opponents in Sardinia were: China, Egypt, Kazakstan, Switzerland, Wales, Poland and New Zealand.

The Canadian Team selected for this tournament contains three members of Canada’s Under 21 team who will play in a three game test match series against Japan within nine days of returning from Malaysia. Played in the neutral venue of Los Angeles in late March the winner of the Canada-Japan series will advanced to the Junior World Cup. The players are: Robin D’Abreo, Bindi Kullar and Mike Mahood.

The Canadian team in Kuala Lumpur is:

1. Hari Kant, Ottawa 2. Mike Mahood, Vancouver 3. Ian Bird, Victoria 4. Alan Brahmst, Toronto 5. Robin D'Abreo, Toronto 6. Chris Gifford, Vancouver 7. Patrick Burrows, Toronto (Captain) 8. Andrew Griffiths, Toronto 9. Ken Pereira, Toronto 10. Paul (Bubli) Chohan, Vancouver 11. Peter Milkovich, Vancouver 12. Bindi Kullar, Vancouver 13. Rob Short, Victoria 14. Rob Edamura, Toronto 15. Marek Gacek, Vancouver 16. Rick Roberts, Vancouver.

Staff: Shiaz Virjee, Head Coach. Shiv Jagday, Skills Coach. Bob Dunlop, Physiotherapist. Patrick Oswald,. Manager. Dr Navin Prasad, Team Medical Staff. Dr. Saul Miller, Team Medical Staff.

The contact person for the Canadian Team in Kuala Lumpur is the National Coach, Shiaz Virjee at the Concorde Hotel. Telephone:

The contact person for the Canadian Team in Canada is the FHC Vice President, Donald Paterson (Vancouver) at 604-228-0600.

Field Hockey: Men’s field hockey is the second largest participation team sport in the world behind only soccer. (Together men’s and women’s field hockey is the largest). Field hockey is played in all continents and in the Americas the powers are: Argentina, Canada, Chile and Cuba. Canada is currently ranked 13th in the world but hopes to improve its placing in Kuala Lumpur.

The high world ranking of the Canadian team, despite a relatively small player base, comes about because of committed and gifted athletes and a dedicated coaching staff. Field Hockey Canada runs an elite training program that is year-round and involves training and fitness sessions many times each week in both its major centres of Toronto and Vancouver. In its preparation for the heat and humidity of Malaysia the Canadian team used the heat chamber facilities of Simon Fraser University.