Category Archives: Canada

PANAM Games Qualification 2nd Leg Preview: USA vs Canada Women:  Which Side Will Make the Better Adjustments?

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USA’s Julia Sayer on attack in the 1st leg match vs Canada.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The “home and home” 2 game aggregate playoff may well be the fairest playoff format devised.  Both teams get a match at home.  The winner is whoever has the most goals after 120 minutes of play.  No home court advantage and less chance that the outcome that one fluke performance (good or bad) will determine the outcome.  And, if by chance, there is a fluke outcome in the first match, each team has some time to make adjustments to correct any problems that may have occurred.

For sure, both sides had their share of problems in the first game.  The U.S. offense struggled against the 3-2-1 defense of the Canadians.  Forced out higher away from the 6 meter line the U.S. backs had difficulty getting in position to be a threat to score.   And, when they did move forward on attack coordination with the wings and circle runners was lacking resulting in only 1 goal in 60 minutes from those positions.  The U.S. will definitely need to make some adjustments if they want to improve on the 22 goals scored in the first match.

The Canadian women will also need their own adjustments to improve on their 20 goals.  At times it seemed as if the Canadians were simply playing catch hoping for an opening in the U.S. defensive wall to magically appear.  As the saying goes: hope is not a strategy.  Canada will need to make some adjustments to get the static U.S. defense moving to the point where they can find some more offensive openings.

If either side can find a way to step it up a bit on offense, that side will likely be well on its way toward victory.  But, it could very well be that we just might see another night of stellar defensive play with both team struggling to eke out goals in half court situations.  If that’s the case, the outcome may well come down to which team minimizes turnovers and resulting opponent fast break opportunities.

And, if that’s the scenario for tonight I think the veteran U.S. team is probably at an advantage with several players having been there before.  Indeed, the U.S. team 8 years ago needed a 5 goal win in Canada to qualify and they found a way to do it.  This time around they have a +2 goal cushion to work with.

Countering that argument, though is a hungry Canadian side which surely feels they can play better than they did Sunday night.  And, on top of that, they are playing at home in front of a sellout crowd of 600 fans who will surely be making some noise in support.

Emotions should be running high tonight.  And, with everything to play for in front of a sold out crowd.  This is going to be one game to watch for sure.

Match Schedule (Wednesday, 5 September)

Canada vs USA (Women) 1900 Eastern Time (0100 CET, Thursday)
Canada vs USA (Men) 2100 Eastern Time (0300 CET, Thursday). 

The match will be live streamed on the Quebec Handball Federation Facebook page:  Link

 

USA Men Wear Down Canada for Convincing 36-24 Victory

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With several changes to the U.S. roster the big question heading into last night’s contest was how much of a difference those changes would make.  From the opening minute it was pretty clear that the new backcourt trio of Fofana, Hueter and Hines would add much needed scoring punch to the U.S. offense with crisp passing and one on one athleticism.  But, Canada met the challenge with a little athleticism of their own and matched U.S. scoring in the early going, even taking 1 goal leads in the early going (5-4 and 6-5).  Midway, through the first half, though, after being tied 9-9, the U.S. was able to clamp down a bit on defense and get some separation for an 18-14 lead at the break.

The first 20 minutes of the second half would see the U.S. build a 6 goal lead only to have Canada claw its way back to a four goal deficit at 28-24.  At which point, a combination of Canadian fatigue and missed scoring opportunities turned the game into a rout.  It was as if the U.S. had found another gear and Canada had run out of gas.  The U.S. dominated play on both sides of the floor to finish the match with 8 unanswered goals for the final 36-24 result.

Abou Fofana, with 9 goals was the Match MVP, but quickly noted in a post game interview that Center Back, Ian Hueter was a big part of his success feeding him the ball for multiple scoring opportunities.  Gary Hines also benefitted from an experienced center back and another back court threat and scored 7 goals at right back, a position he does not regularly play.  (Indeed, as one who has seen Hines getting marked and roughed up over 60 minutes, it was as if he was 24 years old again.)  The U.S. also got solid play from wings Michael Lee and Ty Reed.  Reed, who outside of training camps, is not even practicing regularly was particularly effective with 8 goals.  A trio of circle runners (Baup, Skorupa, and Donlin) played hard, but were little overly aggressive on defense resulting in multiple 2 minute penalties.  Finally, Rene Ingram, played all 60 minutes in goal and found his rhythm in the 2nd half with several nice saves.

Canada, except for the last 10 minutes of the match, had a lot to commend for itself.  Defensively, they adapted quickly to the capable USA back courts challenging them and making sure there that there were no free shots at 9 meters.  I was particularly impressed with the play of backcourt Marc-Andre Vachon who led Canada with 7 goals and also set up other scores as well with aggressive attacks on offense.

With a 12 goal aggregate lead the U.S. has a big cushion for the second leg in Montreal.  While not insurmountable, Canada will have its work cut out for them.  Regardless, they will be eager for revenge and with a sold out crowd of 600 cheering them on leg 2 should be closer.  Wednesday night’s game is at 2100 Eastern Time (0300 CET, Thursday).  The match will be live streamed on the Quebec Handball Federation Facebook page:  Link

Scoring

USA:  Abou Fofana (9), Ty Reed (8), Gary Hines (7), Ian Hueter (5), Michael Lee (3), Drew Donlin (2), Antoine Baup (1), Greg Inahara (1)

Canada: Marc-Andre Vachon (7), Justin Larouche (4), Alexandre Touzel (3), Christian Toth (2), Tim Sartisson (2), Etienne Mercier (2), Marc Gordulic (1), Gregory Chauvee (1), Mattieue Rousselle (1), Cedric Dupere (1)

Video:  USA – CAN Men (Leg 1): Link

USA Women Edge Canada 22-20 in First Leg

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The USA Women edged Canada 22-20 in a closely contested affair.  Both teams appeared tight to start the match struggling to score and setting the tone for a defensive minded match.  The first half was close throughout with a one goal lead by either side for most of the way eventual and at the break the U.S. held a 12-11 lead.  The 2nd half saw each side manage a “mini-run” to surge into the lead.  Canada came out gunning and was able to overtake the U.S. getting ahead 16 to 14 at one point.  The U.S., however rallied to tie the game and then went on a 3-1 mini-run for the eventual 22-20 final score.

As has been their standard for the past few years, the U.S. women made it very tough for Canada to score in a set offense.  The taller American side’s wall made it virtually impossible for Canada to score at distance and limited their scoring pretty much only to the occasional breakthrough or wing shot.   Canada, meanwhile, utilized a 3-2-1 defense to great affect disrupting Team USA’s rhythm offensively and limited quality shots on goals.  At times it also forced turnovers leading to much needed fast break opportunities for the Canadians.

Nicole Andersen led the U.S. with 8 goals and Julia Sayer added 5. All but 1 of Team USA’s 22 goals came from four backcourt players (Andersen, Sayer, Rhoads and Darling) while Canada had a very balanced with their 20 goals coming from 9 different players.

The U.S. takes a two goal lead in the two match aggregate playoff.  The U.S. will advance for certain with another win or a 1 goal loss.  Canada will advance with a 3 goal win.  In the event of a two goal Canadian victory the next tiebreaker is away goals scored meaning that the U.S. will need to beat Canada’s 20 goals at Auburn to advance. The second leg of the match will be in Montreal on Wednesday night at 1900 Eastern Time (0100 CET, Thursday Morning).  The match will be live streamed on the Quebec Handball Federation Facebook page:  Link

Scoring

USA:  Nicole Andersen (8), Julia Sayer (5), Jence Rhoads (4), Kathy Darling (4), Monaye Merritt (1)

Canada: Emily Routhier (3), Myriam Laplante (3), Abbey Renee Perry (3), Audrey Marcoux (3), Myriam Zimmer (2), Catherine Leger (2), Haven Wong (2), Katya Chan (1), Rosali Langlois (1)

Video:  USA – CAN Women (Leg 1): Link

 

PANAM Games Qualification Preview (USA vs Canada) Men:  New Look USA Men’s Team vs Steady as She Goes Canadian Side

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The Canadian Men have been solid consistent performers for the past 6 months. Will that be enough to beat a new look U.S. team?

The USA and Canadian Men will face off against each other in a 2 game series this Sunday in Auburn, AL and Wednesday in Montreal to determine the North American qualifier for the PANAM Games next summer in Lima, Peru.

Unlike the Women, The USA and Canadian Men have played each other recently.  Just this past April, Canada beat the U.S. Men 33-31 at the North American & Caribbean Championships.  And, this was an important match in which a U.S. victory might have led to the U.S. Men qualifying for the Pan American Championships.  While a close match the Canadian Men clearly were a better side that day and consistently a better side throughout that tournament.  They rightly earned qualification to the Pan American Championships that were held in Greenland this past June.

At that tournament, Canada continued their steady, consistent play.  They were not competitive against Brazil (42-13) and were soundly beaten by Greenland (32-20), but they finished up strong in the consolation rounds beating Puerto Rico and avenging an earlier defeat against Uruguay to finish in 5th place.  They may not be the most athletic team, but they play smart and find a way to beat teams on their level.  Not surprisingly, Coach Alexis Bertrand, has kept his roster almost entirely intact, with virtually an identical roster from the two tournaments played earlier this year.

With the U.S. Men, it’s a dramatically different tale to tell.  The U.S. has a new coach, Robert Hedin, and a dramatically different roster with only 6 players returning from the NORCA Tournament.  National Team mainstay, Gary Hines, has returned and several dual citizens, mostly playing in Europe will make their U.S. Sr Team debut.  Some have previously played for the U.S. in Jr team competitions and have shown promise in those events.  Adam El Zoghby also returns after a long spell and the U.S. has added a totally new face in 21 year old Ian Huter who plays for Dormagen in the German Bundesliga 2nd Division.

It’s hard to say who exactly will play the bulk of the minutes for Coach Hedin, but it won’t surprise me a bit if he leans heavily on the new dual citizens and Gary Hines.  And, based on the individual pedigrees of all these players, in theory, overnight, the U.S. has a more talented and athletic team than Canada.  Key words: “in theory.”  Why?  Well, because it’s not always easy to integrate individual talents into a cohesive team.  It takes time to accomplish that task.  And, time has run out for this “new look” U.S. team.  They’ve had limited time to prepare, limited time to practice, and only a few friendly matches under their belt.  None of which were played with the full roster.

Meanwhile the Canadians have played two important qualification tournaments in the last 6 months.  They are as ready to play at their maximum potential as they probably could be.  They know their teammates, their strengths, their weaknesses.  They know that “so and so” likes his pass “right here” on the wing.  And, when if the left back starts his move, the circle runner knows exactly where to go to get the entry pass.  They are a solid “team”.  Not flashy, but solid.  Based on their recent performances they are very unlikely to beat themselves.  Indeed, they’ve shown quite the knack of finding a way to win the close games at crunch time.

So, what we have are a lot of unanswered questions:

  • Will the new U.S. dual citizens live up to their billing? Making the U.S. Team immediately better?
  • And, if so will this new U.S. side play as a team? Or, will they merely be a collective group of individuals that haven’t quite gelled together yet?
  • And, will that leave an opening for a proven Canadian side? To collectively beat a side which is a better team on paper?
  • Or, will the Canadians wilt under pressure from superior talent?
  • Or, maybe the Canadian Men will grow tired of all the hype surrounding a new U.S. team and have that little extra motivation to just prove they are better.

I could go on, but you get the picture.  Lots of burning questions to be answered.  And, the answers to these questions may change over the course of 120 minutes making the aggregate winner of this border war showdown all the more interesting.

USA – Canada PANAM Games Qualification Schedule

Sunday, 2 September at Auburn
USA – Canada (Women) 3:00 PM (Central Time)
USA – Canada (Men) 5:00 PM (Central Time)

Wednesday, 5 September at Montreal
USA – Canada (Women) 7:00 PM (Eastern Time)
USA – Canada (Men) 9:00 PM (Eastern Time)

All 4 matches will be live streamed.  

Live stream for matches at Auburn: Link
Live stream for matches at Montreal:   (Link to be added when available)

I will be on the ground, both in Auburn and Montreal, with interviews, stories and some tweets during the match.  You can follow me here:  https://twitter.com/TeamHandball

PANAM Games Qualification Preview (USA vs Canada) Women:  USA Road Warriors Clear Favorites vs Relatively Unknown Canadian Side

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Can this motivated, but relatively inexperienced Canadian side match up with a USA “Road Warriors” team?

 

The USA and Canadian Women will face off against each other in a 2 game series this Sunday in Auburn, AL and Wednesday in Montreal to determine the North American qualifier for the PANAM Games next summer in Lima, Peru.

Based on recent friendly competition results the USA Women would seem to be solid favorites to come out on top.   This is not so much because they have had better results than their Canadian rivals (although, they have), but because they’ve been able to play dozens of games together as a team in the past year.  Really, you would be hard pressed to find any team in the world that’s travelled more than the U.S. Women in the past year or so.  They’ve been to South Korea (August 2017), France (Dec 2017), Italy (March 2018), South Korea again (June 2018), and one last whirlwind European tour in July with stops in Germany, Hungary and France.  Incredibly, the USA Women have probably played more games together as a unit than any other national team in the world.  And, all done with a non-existent travel budget.  Of course, all those games are friendlies.  Rosters have changed from trip to trip.  But, still… This is a team that’s played together… a lot.

Meanwhile, the Canadian team is a bit of a mystery.  While the U.S. Women played in the North American & Caribbean Championships and the Pan American Championships in both 2015 and 2017, the Canadian Women stayed home.  In fact, their only official competition of recent note is their 7th place (out of 8) finish at the 2015 PANAM Games which they automatically qualified for as hosts.  And, only 6 athletes who played in that tournament are on the latest roster.  Further, half the team (8 of 16 players) will be making their international debut on Sunday.  The roster in total has played 83 International Games while the U.S. Women have a few players that may have well played more international matches on an individual level.

The Canadian women have had teams travel to Europe for competition and recently they played 4 matches against club teams in France, winning 3 and losing 1.  But, the three wins were against lower level amateur sides and the 34-22 loss was to a club team still playing at a lower level than the sides that the U.S. faced in France just a week earlier.   And, while the U.S. struggled at times against the higher French level teams they were competitive even picking up a few wins.  Again, with friendly matches, roster experimentation, team fatigue, etc, it’s difficult to draw too many conclusions, especially when you haven’t even seen one of the teams (Canada) play.  Still, one can infer that the U.S. is on paper a better, more experienced team.

But, the actual games will be played on the court.  And, the Canadians as a mystery team may be able to surprise.  Key to the match could be defense.  The U.S. has had solid goal tending and have at times in the past year shut down opposing teams for large blocks of time.  If the U.S can do that, they could build a sizable lead that they can take with them to Canada on the return leg.

Sight unseen, I suspect the Canadians will not want to get into a half court battle.  They may well try to up the tempo of the game with the hope of scoring on fast breaks.   And, with a faster paced game they might also force the U.S. to play some of their less experience reserves more than they would like to.

Historical Note:  Best that I can tell this will be the first non-friendly matches between the U.S and Canadian Women since the 2010 PANAM Qualification matches played in 2010.  Those matches had a bit of a twist to them with the U.S. losing the first leg in Lake Placid 23-18, but then winning the second leg in Canada 26-21.  This resulted in a 44-44 tie on aggregate, but the U.S. won the 2 game series since they scored more goals in their away match.

2010 Match write up: Link

So buckle up and throw out the analysis.  When the U.S. plays Canada you never really know what’s going to happen

USA – Canada PANAM Games Qualification Schedule

Sunday, 2 September at Auburn
USA – Canada (Women) 3:00 PM (Central Time)
USA – Canada (Men) 5:00 PM (Central Time)

Wednesday, 5 September at Montreal
USA – Canada (Women) 7:00 PM (Eastern Time)
USA – Canada (Men) 9:00 PM (Eastern Time)

I will be on the ground, both in Auburn and Montreal, with interviews and stories.  All 4 matches reportedly will be live streamed.

 

Canada vs Greenland for a Semifinal Berth:  The Biggest Match for Canada in 14 years

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Canada will have to overcome a strong Greenland team and the 8th man (the Greenland fans), but it can be done. 14 years ago they knocked off Chile in Chile. Can they do it again?

 

The Canadian Men’s team started the Men’s Pan American Handball Championship with two disappointing losses:  A very lopsided 42-13 loss vs Brazil and a narrow 26-24 loss to Uruguay.  But since that poor start they’ve secured victories over Colombia and Paraguay and now are in position to qualify for the semifinals.

Yes, a victory tonight over Greenland will put Canada into a 3 way tie with Greenland and Uruguay at 6 points each.  And, then the next tiebreaker is head to head goal differential with Uruguay locked in at 0 GD, Greenland at +2 and Canada at -2.  The simple math means that a 3 goal victory would put Canada through to the semifinal.  A 1 goal victory will put Greenland through and a 2 goal victory, would put all 3 teams level on GD, meaning goals scored head to head is the next tiebreaker.  The math there will also qualify Greenland if they score 26 or more goals.  25 or less will qualify Uruguay.  (Side note: all of this assumes that Brazil beats Uruguay; arguably a pretty safe assumption.)

Shades of 2004?

Fourteen years ago at the 2004 Men’s Pan American Championships in Santiago, Chile, Canada took 3rd place and qualified for the 2005 Men’s World Championships.  To do so, Canada pulled off arguably the biggest win in the history of their program, a 31-24 defeat of hosts Chile in the bronze medal game.  Yes, with a World Championship berth on the line Canada dominated Chile at home to qualify.

A key player on the Canadian team roster back then was current Men’s Head Coach, Alexis Bertrand.  Can he lead the Canadian men to pull off a similar victory in front of roughly 2,000 Greenland fans?  Well, the odds are against them.

Greenland’s clearly a better team.  This is evidenced by the score lines of all the matches they’ve played.  Last night they even played Brazil close for the first 10 minutes until things started to unravel.  Still they only lost by 10 goals, while Canada lost by 29.  They’ve got several players on their roster that have played semi-pro or professionally in Denmark.  Minik Dahl Hoegh and Akutaaneq Kreutzmann have been playing in Denmark’s top league for several years and have been on Pan American Championships All Star teams.  Hoegh and to a lesser extent Kreutzmann cause some serious match up problems for a smallish Canadian side.

But…

If Canada can contain Greenland’s big scorers, and force the rest of Greenland’s team to score; if they can get some fast break opportunities; if they can hit their shots; and if they get a strong performance in goal; and if they can keep it close…  Could then the tremendous pressure of playing in front of a packed house with everything on the line cause the home team to make mistakes in the final minutes?

Lots of ifs there, but these are the kinds of matches players and coaches dream of.  It’s why you play the game.

The game is at 8:00 PM Greenland time or 6:00 PM Eastern Time (U.S./Canada) and can be seen live on KNR website: Link

Standings and results: Link

Podcast (Episode 38): Canadian Men’s Head Coach, Alexis Bertrand

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 19:25 — 8.9MB)

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Canadian Men’s Team

It’s a rest day at the Men’s Pan American Championships in Nuuk, Greenland and Canadian Men’s Head Coach, Alexis Bertrand, joins the podcast to talk about Canada’s performance so far, the atmosphere in Greenland, Cuba’s absence and the upcoming North American qualifier between Canada and the U.S. in September.

Canada is 1-2-0 in the tournament, but they if they beat Paraguay tomorrow and then beat Greenland by 3 goals on Wednesday they will make the semifinals.  A tough ask to beat Greenland in Greenland, but if they play like they did in the 2nd half vs Uruguay it just might be possible.

2018 Pan American Men’s Championship Wiki Page: Link

Podcast (Episode 33): IHF Trophy Review with Dennis Berkholtz (Part 1)

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Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 56:25 — 25.8MB)

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The IHF Trophy tournaments held last week in West Dundee, Illinois were a big success.  Dennis Berkholtz was on hand for all the matches and he provides his assessment of the teams, players and results.

Final Results, Standings and links to match video: Link

USA IHF Trophy Rosters: Link

This is the first of two interviews with Dennis.  In part 2 we will discuss development strategies in the U.S. and other topics.