Forget ice. Canadians are proving they can play hockey on turf, too.
Island players Maddie Secco and Anna Mollenhauer with the women鈥檚 national team, and James Kirkpatrick with the men鈥檚 national side, are moving closer to achieving their dreams of qualifying for the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics.
Both national teams have earned their way into two chances. The first is at the 2019 Lima Pan Am Games this summer, out of which the men鈥檚 and women鈥檚 gold-medallist teams will advance directly to Tokyo 2020. The second will be in best-of-three head-to-heads in the fall for both the men and women against opponents to be decided.
The Kate Wright-captained Canadian women鈥檚 squad, which includes UVic Vikes graduates Kaitlyn Williams and Dani Hennig, guaranteed its berth in the next qualifying stage by beating Italy 7-0 on Wednesday in the semifinals of a preliminary-stage Olympic qualifier in Valencia to advance to the final today against host Spain.
sa国际传媒 earlier in the tourney beat Namibia 17-0 and Belarus 3-0 and tied Spain 1-1.
The top two teams advance so both sa国际传媒, which held its pre-tournament training camp at the University of Victoria, and Spain will move on to the final stage of Olympic qualifying in the fall to meet teams to be determined in the best-of-threes.
Knowing advancement rested on the semifinal result, sa国际传媒 threw everything it had at Italy. The Canadian team, cut off from national funding afforded national teams in other sports because of not having qualified for the Olympics since 1992, raised $82,000 through online crowd-funding just to get to Valencia for the qualifier.
鈥淚t was humbling and very special to receive that support from across the country,鈥� said Oak Bay High graduate Secco.
The Canadian women have more than paid back that support with their performance in Valencia.
The Canadian men, meanwhile, are ranked No. 10 in the world and competed in the 2016 Rio Olympics. sa国际传媒 beat China, Italy and Malaysia in the first round of 2020 Olympic qualifying at Kuala Lumpur to advance to the upcoming best-of-three final round.
Oak Bay High grad Kirkpatrick played a role in 2016 Olympic qualifying but was left off the final team roster for Rio. The midfielder is now an integral part of the national side on the road to Tokyo 2020.
鈥淚t鈥檚 good to be now a permanent part of the team,鈥� said Kirkpatrick, before leaving for Tokyo for a tour to ready for the big Olympic qualifiers ahead.
It might have to wait until the best-of-three fall qualifier because a formidable task awaits at the Pan Am Games against defending 2016 Olympic gold-medallist Argentina.
鈥淚t [potential sa国际传媒-Argentina Pan Am gold-medal final] is just one game so you never know,鈥� said Kirkpatrick.
鈥渟a国际传媒 has done it [Pan Am Games gold] before. We鈥檝e always been competitive against Argentina. We can play with them.鈥�
Going to Tokyo next year for the Olympics would be the culmination of a lifetime dream.
鈥淚鈥檝e had a hockey stick in my hand pretty much all my life and have played since I was 6 or 7,鈥� said Kirkpatrick.
He helped lead a talented team at the University of Victoria as the Vikes were a force in the sa国际传媒 Premier League. Former UVic stars Matthew Sarmento, Keegan Pereira and Brenden Bissett played for sa国际传媒 in the 2016 Rio Olympics.
鈥淲e had a very good squad at UVic,鈥� said Kirkpatrick.
鈥淲e didn鈥檛 win championships but were always there in the hunt.鈥�
Kirkpatrick said he was motivated by his surroundings: 鈥淚 grew up watching a lot of athletes from Victoria go to the Olympics in a number of sports and was inspired by that.鈥�
Now Kirkpatrick鈥檚 turn is looming, with 81 caps for sa国际传媒, including at the 2018 World Cup in India.
