Junior men’s national hockey team off to good start

Dec 17, 2014 Sports

Guyana’s junior men’s national hockey team made a successful start to their Trinidad tour when

Guyana junior men’s national hockey team members (yellow) pose with Paragon junior squad shortly after the game.

they defeated Paragon Hockey club 2-1 in a warm up match on Monday evening. The Guyanese worked extremely hard to keep the game scoreless until the second half, with goalkeeper Medroy Scotland managing to pull off several brilliant saves to keep his side in the game.
A surging run from Captain Mark Sargeant was neatly finished by Aroydy Branford halfway through the third quarter to give the Guyanese the lead. Branford put his side further ahead 28 seconds into the final quarter when he finished a well worked team goal.
After starting the ball from the centre, the Guyanese strung together eight consecutive passes, working the ball from right to left then back to the right, before Branford finished with Paragon’s first touch of the quarter being when they removed the ball from the back of their net.
Guyana then set low to absorb Paragon’s offensive press and created several counter attacking opportunities which went a begging. Paragon’s pressure eventually broke down the Guyanese defense when Leon Bacchus’ desperate attempt to prevent a goal hit his foot on the goal line. The resulting penalty was scored by Trinidadian national player Akim Toussaint, but the Guyanese boys showed great maturity to maintain possession and run out the clock to secure their first international victory.
Their real test began last evening when they faced Trinidad & Tobago’s much vaunted national junior unit. They oppose the same side today and tomorrow, before returning to Guyana on Friday.
The team will have training sessions on the artificial turf from 8:00am in the mornings in addition to being exposed to special skill sessions run by some of Trinidad’s top senior national players.
This developmental tour is the first step in the Hockey Board’s ambitious plan to develop and expose this group of youngsters to international competition with the intention of building a team for the 2016 Junior Pan American Cup in Toronto, Canada.
This trip was made possible through an Olympic solidarity team support grant as well as the Ministry of Sport and individual sponsors.
National Junior Men’s Hockey Team 2014: Mark Sargeant (Capt), Medroy Scotland, Daniel Hooper, Kareem McKenzie, Keon McKenzie, Shaquille Leung, Rosario Ramsammy, Jamarj Assanah, Andrew Stewart, Aroydy Branford, Leon Bacchus, Stephon Sprosta, Deheron Wilkinson, Omar Hopkinson, Ato Greene, Hilton Chester, Paramanand Dindial and Shemar Boston. Coaches – Dwayne Alleyne & Robert Fernandes. Manager – Hubert Forrester.