When the USA Men play Canada this Tuesday, it will be their first official match in nearly 4 years. Since losing to Canada 2 games to 1 in January 2007 and playing later that April in Chile for the 2nd Chance tournament, Team USA has not played an official International Game.

Meanwhile, Team Canada has been playing pretty regularly the past couple of years with mixed success. In Div 1 PATHF tournaments in 2007 and 2009 they posted winning records and advanced to the Elite Championships. In those Elite Championships, however, they’ve struggled a little bit, eking out 7th place finishes in both those events. Still, since these two sides met 4 years ago, the Canadians will have played 24 matches in PATHF competition while the USA has only played 2. While several players from both teams have played or are currently playing club ball in Europe, the Canadians will clearly have more experience playing together as a team.

[b]USA Men (Results since 2006)[/b]
Jun 06: PATHF Elite Championships: 4th out of 8 teams; 2-0-3 Record
Jan 07: PANAM Games North American Qualification: Lost to Canada in best of 3 series; 1-0-2 Record; Lost to Canada (19-20); Beat Canada (25-21); Lost to Canada (16-20)
Apr 07: PANAM Games 2nd Chance Qualification: 2nd of 3 teams; (1-0-1 Record; Lost to Chile (26-36); Beat Venezuela (23-20)
Jul 07 PANAM Games: Did not qualify for event
Jun 08 PATHF Elite Championships: Chose not to participate
Nov 09 PATHF Div 1 Championships: Chose not to participate
Jun 10 PATHF Elite Championships: Did not qualify for event

[b]Canada Men (Results since 2005)[/b]
Jan 05 World Championships: 23rd out of 24 Teams; 0-0-5 Record
Jun 06: PATHF Elite Championships: Did not participate due to the brand new PATHF qualification system which somehow precluded Canada (3rd place in 2004) from entry.
Jan 07: PANAM Games Qualification: Beat USA in 3 game series (2-1); Beat UAS (19-20); Lost to USA (25-21); Beat USA (16-20)
Jul 07: PANAM Games: 7th out of 8 teams; 1-0-4 Record
Nov 07: PATHF Div 1 Championship: 2nd out of 5 teams; 2-1-1 Record
Jun 08: PATHF Elite Championships: 7th out of 7 teams; 0-1-3 Record; Drew Greenland (20-20); Lost to Argentina (15-26); Lost to Chile (23-28); Lost to Uruguay (21-23)
Nov 09: PATHF Div 1 Championships: 2nd out of 7 teams; 3-1-1 Record; Beat Venezuela (25-18); Drew Colombia (21-21);Beat Mexico (30-26);Beat Puerto Rico (29-27); Lost to Dominican Republic (35-23)
Jun 10: PATHF Elite Championships: 7th out of 8 teams; 1-0-4 Record; Lost to Chile (25-36); Lost to Argentina (12-39); Lost to Uruguay (29-32); Lost to Greenland (36-38); Beat Dominican Republic (33-25)

THN (8 Jan 07) PANAM Games Qualifier Results (Canadian Men Qualify): http://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.229
THN (26 Dec 09): Interview with then Federation President Ward Hrabi: Canada – strong handball traditions and optimism about the future: http://teamhandballnews.com/news.php?item.911