NIGEL SIMON
nigel.simon@guardian.co.tt
England-based T&T junior men’s hockey team captain Teague Marcano scored a hat-trick but it wasn’t enough to stop his team from a 5-4 defeat in their fifth spot playoff match at the Junior Pan American Hockey Championship on Saturday.
Playing in the first match on the final day of the seven-team junior men’s competition at the Prince of Wales Country Club in Santiago, Chile, the junior T&T stickmen were eager to build on their 4-2 seventh-spot playoff triumph against Brazil on Friday behind Aidan Marcano pair of goals.
However, on Saturday it was his cousin Teague who almost single-handedly carried the short-handed T&T squad at the tournament despite not having the services of six members who tested positive for the coronavirus on the eve of the team’s departure from T&T for the tournament.
Teague who plays professional for English Hockey League Championship Division club, Hampstead & Westminster fired his team into a fifth-minute lead which his team took into the first 15-minute interval.
Two minutes into the second quarter, Joel Daniel doubled the lead for the “Calypso Stickmen”, but two minutes before the half-time interval Mexico captain Erick Hernandez pulled a goal back for his team.
The Mexicans then turned the match on its head with two quick goals in 36th via Andre Benedith, who level the scores at 2 each, and three minutes later, Brian Rangel pushed his team to a 3-2 lead.
And a minute before the end of the third quarter, the Mexicans extended their advantage against their opponents when Alexander Sandoval netted past goalkeeper Malcolm Baptiste.
With his team in need of goals, Marcano (T) rose to the occasion and banged in a quick double of his own in the 51st and 52nd to level the encounter at 4-all and also move his tally to six goals, the same as Chile’s Andres Pizarro at the top of the scoring charts.
However, with two minutes left in the see-saw battle, Mexico got decisive through Sandoval to secure the fifth spot.
T&T was without starters Shawn Phillip, Ethan Reynos, Roshane Hamilton, Tyrese Benjamin, and Caleb Guissepi for the duration of the competition after their positive Covid-19 test result.
In their other matches in the tournament, T&T coached by former national Darren Cowie, fell to USA 2-3 in the team's tournament opener in Pool A and was outclassed by Argentina 9-1 before beating the Brazilians.
The tournament final will feature Argentina and Chile after both qualified for the FIH World Cup in South Africa later this year.
In Friday's semifinals, Chile blanked USA 4-0 and Argentina edged Canada 2-1.