2008 Pan American Junior Championships
Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago
October 17-26

(9-11) Jamaica - Guyana : 7 - 0

Caribbean counties Jamaica and Guyana started the cross-over play-offs of the Ninth Junior Pan Am Men's Hockey Tournament in blazing sunshine in compare to the inclement weather that plagued Day Five, causing a two-hour delay during the half-time break in the game between Barbados and Guyana.

In the brilliant sunshine that greeted the National Hockey Centre (NHC) in Tacarigua on Friday morning, Jamaica ended Guyana run in the tournament with a resounding 7-0 victory to arrange a meeting with Brazil for the ninth and tenth place on Sunday morning, the final day of competition.

Doing the job for Jamaica in their first triumph of the tournament from five games overall was Charles Burton with three field goals in the 19th, 28th and 47th minutes to help give the Jamaicans a comfortable 4-0 advantage going to the intermission break.

Jamaica, whose best finish in the tournament is sixth place 30 year-ago in Mexico, also got a goal apiece from Giovanni Gordon in the 21 minute and Orville Hicks in the 37 minute. The winners overwhelmed their Caribbean neighbours in both halves as the youthful Guyanese appeared to be tired and uninteresting in what was going around them after six hard games .They had 64 goals scored against them, while netting once.

Other provider for Jamaica on Friday morning at the NHC in their first success in the win column were Gerren Rowe ( 40th) and Jerome Davis ,who secured the lone penalty corner of the game in the 58th minute. The seven items registered by the Jamaicans in this game were their first goals in the tournament.

(5-8) Trinidad & Tobago - Barbados : 3 - 8

TRINIDAD and Tobago hockey team produced their worst game of the Ninth Junior Pan Am Tournament at the National Hockey Centre in Trinidad last Friday afternoon, going down to Barbados 8-3 in their first outing of the cross -over play-offs. Apparently still smarting for their elimination from the semi-final play-offs by the USA (3-1) on Thursday night, the local boys looked flat and unconcern, and conceded goals at regular intervals to suffer an embarrassing five-goal margin lost to a Barbados unit that showed improvement from their first encounter, when they were hammered 6-0 by Chile.

Ace marksman Che Warner took his tally for the campaign to a dozen when he netted a hat-trick .The other items for the Bajans in their impressive triumph over the host were skipper Dario Joseph, who netted twice, while Laurando Davis, Jemar Small, Wharton Shonkeel found the back of the net in the win. The disappointing T&T team's consolation efforts came from off the sticks of Matthew Tang Nian-a penalty corner in the 34th minute and a penalty stroke in the 54th.

Fifteen year-old Andrew Vieira put a slight respectability to the local lads scoreline after an improved and inspired Barbados team had stunned them and their handful of fans spread all over the NHC by taking a daunting 5-1 lead at the half-time break

Earlier, the game started in pouring rain from the sunny condition that graced the opening encounter to start Day Six. The activity was then suspended for two hours because of consistent rain and a waterlogged pitch, six minutes after the flick off. When the contest eventually restarted, Barbados ran riot over their old rivals, who looked totally out of focus during the entire game -an effort that they will want to forget as quickly as possible.

Following their lacklustre performance on Friday evening, the home side will play for the seventh and eighth position on Sunday, while Barbados will play for fifth and sixth spot in the overall tournament.

Meanwhile, the game between Mexico and Puerto Rico that was carded for yesterday will be will today(Saturday) at the same venue, starting 9am (T&T time).This affair was postponed from Friday because of the heavy and continuous rain here in Trinidad and Tobago .The bad weather caused a two- hour play delay at the half time in the match T&T vs Barbados.

(semi) Argentina - Canada : 6 - 1

Eight-time champions Argentina rolled into the final of the Ninth Edition Junior Pan Am Men's Hockey Tournament being contested in Trinidad and Tobago, as predicted with a comprehensive 6-1 win over Canada in one-half of the semi-finals match-ups, yesterday.

Playing at the National Hockey Centre in Tacarigua, Argentina, as they have done in all the tournaments that went before, controlled the flow of the game from the start to the finish with composure, speed (with and without the ball), and stick handling. Penalty corner specialist Leandro Tolini notched three more in fine style to advance his tally to 16 out of his 17 goals, to be the tournament's leading goal-getter. Tolini hit skillfully high into the net in the 17th, 34th and 36th minutes as the youngsters in white and blue stripes held the upper ground at 4-1 at the break.

Cruz Juan Agulleiro netted Argentina second goal of the game in the 20th minute, while hard-working Devohn Teixeira added next item via a field goal in the 24th to cut the lead down, before the break. Captain Gabriel Martin Gebhardt put his name into the scorer's column when he registered in the 67th minute, while Gabriel Alan Andino closed off the scoring in the 69th for a satisfying glory going into the championship match, tonight.

(semi) USA - Chile : 0 - 6

Chile will meet defending champions Argentina in the Gold medal match of the Ninth Junior Pan Am Men�s Hockey Tournament at the National Hockey Centre (NHC) here in Trinidad and Tobago on Sunday evening. The Chileans claimed the right to challenge the eight-time champions, who have not lost a single game in winning the previous tournaments, when they scored a commanding 6-1 triumph over a plucky USA outfit in chilly condition, following afternoon showers.

The afternoon weather was so terrible that it halted play eight minutes into the flick off of the old-firm derby between two Caribbean countries -host nation Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados-that it created a lengthy delay of two hours, causing the match-up between Mexico and Puerto Rico to shifted to this morning, beginning at 9pm.

On the field of play, Chile relished the prevailing condition that existed out in the middle, and showed why they are the only country at this level that have the potential to halt the Argentines� long-outstanding unbeaten run, in time to come. The title aspirant, Chile, did not take long to get into motion and opened the gates in the third minute, when Thomas Krussig blasted in a rebound high into the net, following a brilliant save by goalkeeper Kevin Segeren.

Soon after, Martin Rodriguez forced Segeren into other top draw effort when he tossed his big frame at the attack�s stick to prevent any increase in the scoreline. Jan Richter - leading goal scorer with 14 for Chile- scored the first of a trio of penalty corner (25th) to make it two-nil for the South Americans. His other items came in the 41st and 56th minutes.

Richter is second in the goal scoring department behind Argentina�s Leandro Tolini, who has 17, including 16 penalty corners.

The scoreline stayed 2-0 up until the break as the winners kept the Americans on their heels for a significant part of the 35 minutes. Their (USA) best spell of the contest came around the 15th to the 20th minutes when they forced three consecutive penalty corners without conversion.

In the second-half, the same pattern that existed in the first session when Chile spread the ball all over the Astro surface at the NHC to construct their offence to control ball possession and chances created. In the 46th minute, Thomas Tegtmeier failed to convert deep into the "D" following a move that had about six to eight passes in it. Rodriguez made amend for his earlier miss when he completed a well �worked field item in the 57th minute. Sven Richter crowned the victory with a field effort in the 61st for Chileans, who will be hoping to better their two second places in the last two tournaments.

They have never finished outside of the top five. The South Americans also ended as runners-ups in 1978, in Mexico City. Constant USA, who have four fourth places, previously (1981, 1985, 1992, 2000 and 2005) will play Canada, who lost to the perennial champs last night, for the Bronze medal. The Canadians have finished third on five occasions in the under-21 tournament. They also occupied runners-up position twice, before (1981 and 1985).