Calypso Stickmen crowned champs, beat Peru 6-0 in Pan Am Challenge final

TT’s Calypso Stickmen qualified for next year’s Pan American Cup in Uruguay after downing hosts Peru 6-0 in the final of the Pan American Men’s Hockey Challenge on September 14.

Three goals from captain Jordan Vieira, two from tournament top scorer Teague Marcano and one from Nicholas Grant were more than enough to see TT crowned champions, and seal the automatic Pan Am Cup qualifying spot.

Vieira was the only player to find the back of the net in the first quarter. Peru, however, tightened up in the second as TT failed to breach their last line of defence after multiple attempts. Likewise, Peru were also prevented from scoring.

TT entered the halftime break with a slim 1-0 lead.

At the resumption, Vieira scored twice in the third quarter while Grant also got his name on the scoresheet to make it 4-0 heading into the final segment.

Marcano, who top scored for TT in each of their previous matches, fired two past the Peru goalkeeper to seal a comfortable 6-0 victory.

The win for TT saw them conclude the Pan Am Challenge as the only unbeaten team, scoring a whopping 60 goals and conceding only two across seven games. Marcano scored 27.

After their title-winning performance, TT player Tarell Singh said qualifying for the Pan Am Cup was a fitting reward for the hard work they put in over the past week, and leading up to the competition.

“Qualifying feels great because the Pan American Cup is where we should be competing,” he said.

“We have the quality to compete amongst the top teams in the Pan American region. The reason we went unbeaten in this tournament because we came to make a statement also we worked for each other and keep trying to push positivity amongst the team.”

The Pan Am Cup is scheduled to flick off from July 24 to August 3 in Montevideo, Uruguay.

TT best showing at the Panam Cup came in 2013 where they placed third in Brampton, Canada.