Former champions New Zealand thumped Canada for a comfortable 4-2 win in the 31st Sultan Azlan Shah Cup international invitational hockey tournament at the Sultan Azlan Shah Hockey Stadium in Ipoh this afternoon..
With this victory, the Kiwis amassed seven points after three matches. Two more matches are scheduled to be played today – Belgium takes on South Korea, and Malaysia host five-time champions India.
After impressive performances against World No 3 Belgium (1-1), and Malaysia (ranked 12) whom they lost narrowly 2-3 in earlier matches, the Canadians, who are the lowest ranked team in the tournament at World No 20, held their fort in the first quarter against the Nation Cup champions.
The Canadian defenders frustrated the Black Sticks who were unable to find the back of the net from three penalty corners.
But the deadlock was finally broken by George Baker in the 16th minute from a field goal, and team captain Sam Lane converted a penalty corner four minutes later to extend New Zealand’s domination going into the interval 2-0 ahead.
The third quarter saw the Kiwis apply pressure early in the game. Isaac Houlbrooke scored a field goal (31st) as New Zealand went 3-0 ahead, but Brendan Guraliuk did the hard work for Canada by converting a penalty corner in the 32nd minute.
New Zealand continued domination through Baker’s second goal (32nd) to go 4-1. Flynn McColloch, however, reduced the gap for Canada via a field goal in the 49th minute as the final score stood at 4-2.
NEW ZEALAND: Greg Nicol (Coach)
We’re happy with the win. But, you know, we had 54 circle penetrations and we’ve got four goals, so we’re going to have to look at our circle efficiency winning of penalty corners. But in fairness to Canada, they defended their circle well, and that’s been a trait in this tournament. They showed against Belgium they can do it, and we didn’t unlock it to put the game away.
CANADA: Patrick Tshutshani (Coach)
I thought New Zealand brought a really good game for us. We struggled in the first half. We didn’t get enough ball possession and New Zealand kept the pressure on us. I thought my players defended really well, as usual, and we pride ourselves on defence and gritty. The keepers made some good saves as well, but we fought quite well. So, in the second and third quarter when we did create some chances at least, we pulled back the score.
