THE Guyana National Junior Men’s hockey team arrived in Toronto, Canada Monday evening to take part in the Pan American Junior Championships, scheduled for May 20 to 28. The team settled into their accommodation at the University of Toronto grounds and had a taste of the 6C temperature on their early morning jog and stretching session yesterday, under the guidance of physical trainer Barrington Browne.
The Guyanese were scheduled to have their first practice session on one of the University’s two artificial turfs at 15:30hrs yesterday.
The players are also scheduled to have a practice match today against a selection of senior Toronto club players, before their final practice session tomorrow, with the tournament fixed to start on Friday.
Three of the team’s most experienced players, Hilton Chester, Kareem McKenzie and Daniel Hooper will join the team tomorrow evening, after completing some of their CXC and CAPE examinations.
They will take on the tournament’s third-seeds on Friday at 15:00hrs, then Mexico on Saturday at the same time before playing second-seeds Canada on Monday at 17:30hrs.
According to head coach Robert Fernandes “We will use these first few days to get the boys comfortable with their surroundings, acclimatised to the conditions and adjusted to playing on the turf. We usually get better as tournaments wear on and we adjust to the faster pace of play that the turf allows.
“So hopefully by arriving here early and having three sessions on the surface we will be firing on all cylinders by Friday.”
Local fans will be able to stream the matches live on the www.panamhockey.org website.
The Guyana team reads Mark Sargeant (capt), Medroy Scotland (GK), Michael Hing (GK), Kareem McKenzie, Keon McKenzie, Daniel Hooper, Shaquille Leung, Meshach Sargeant, Rosario Ramsammy, Aroydy Branford, Andrew Stewart, Leon Bacchus, Jael Gaskin, Omar Hopkinson, Hilton Chester, Ato Greene, Paramanand Dindial, and Nyron Joseph.

Manager – Hubert Forrester
Coaches – Robert Fernandes, Dwayne Alleyne and Marvin Dannett
Physical Trainer – Barrington Browne