By IANS,
New Delhi : Canada finished the men’s hockey Olympic qualifier on a bright note as they narrowly edged out Poland for the bronze medal, beating them 4-3 at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium here Sunday.
Canada had learnt their lesson from their first match against Poland, when they fell behind by two goals in the first period and immediately besieged the Polish circle. They had a first unsuccessful penalty corner, but scored on their second attempt when Scott Tupper’s low flick was deflected in goal by Ken Pereira, playing in his 348th, and possibly last, international match.
Poland responded strongly and challenged David Carter in the Canadian goal. Artur Mikula scored after stealing the ball from a Canadian defender and the match was back to square one with the teams tied at 1-1.
Poland were pressing very high on the Canadian defenders and midfielders, trying to prevent them from developing their game. Canada had a chance from penalty-corner, and Poland could have scored immediately after at the other end but were denied by a fantastic reflex save by Carter.
The deadlock was broken in the 28th minute when Rob Short, the other veteran of the Canadian team possibly playing his last international match as well (after 346 Caps), received the ball in front of the goal and turned around for an instant high shot that left no chance for Arkadiusz Matuszak in the Polish goal. The Canadian celebration was once again short-lived, Szymon Oszyjcczyk equalizing from the next play, for a score of 2-2 at half-time.
Play remained intense at the beginning of second period. Matthew Guest forced a penalty-corner with a powerful run along the back-line, then was on-hand to deflect Tupper’s flick in goal to give back the lead to Canada (3-2). Poland though thought they once again tied the score shortly after through Karol Majchrzak, but the Canadians successfully used their video-umpiring referral and the goal was denied, allowing Canada to build a two-goal lead on the next action, thanks to Pereira’s second goal.
Poland closed the gap to one goal through Bartosz Zywiczka and could have scored again but Short was at hand with a goal line clearance.
Canada hanged on to their narrow lead, successfully defending two penalty-corners in the final minute of the match to grab the bronze medal with the 4-3 win.