T&T's country's Under-21 men's hockey squad came up short in their bid to create history after they went under to host Canada 3-2 in the third quarterfinal of the 2016 Junior Pan American Hockey Championship at the University of Toronto, Canada, yesterday.
Coached by national men's senior team captain Darren Cowie, with Akim Toussaint as his assistant, the junior "Calypso Stickmen" entered the match on a high, with impressive wins over Puerto Rico (14-0) and USA (5-1) to finish second in Pool A round-robin play behind ten-time reigning champions, Argentina who it went under to 5-0 in its opener.
However, led by goalkeeper Kwasi Emmanuel, T&T went behind in the 13th minute when Rohan Chopra scored from open play for the Canadians, only for England-based Tariq Marcano to get T&T back on level terms with a field goal of his own in the 20th minute.
But two minutes before the half-time whistle, Canada regained the lead through a penalty-corner conversion from captain Brandon Perreira.
Nine minutes after the restart, national senior team defender Jordan Reynos equalised for T&T with a penalty-corner conversion of his own, but just as it seemed as though the visitors would press on and go ahead, it was the host who took the lead for the third and final time in the 52nd minute courtesy Thomson Harris.
T&T then went on the offensive in search of a third leveler for the afternoon, but was guilty of missing its penalty-corner chances, and in the end, came up short in its bid to reach a first ever junior men's semifinal.
Tomorrow, T&T will return to action when they meet Guyana or Puerto Rico in their fifth to eight place semifinal while Canada advances to the main draw semifinal along with ten-time reigning champions, Argentina and USA.
The Argentines clobbered Guyana 14-0 in the first quarterfinal while USA won 3-2 over Mexico while Chile was expected to defeat winless Puerto Rico in the late match.
Emmanuel and company will now aim to equal T&T's best ever finis of fifth spot four years ago in Guadalajara, Mexico, as well as in 1985 in Orlando, Florida, USA.
T&T also placed sixth in Barbados (1996) and Chile (1981), seventh on home soil in 2008 and 2000 in Santiago, Chile, and eighth in 2005 in Havana, Cuba.
The final day playoffs on Saturday will determine the positions from eight through third as well as feature the main draw semifinal winners in a battle for the lone spot to the Junior World Cup to be held in India, in December.