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Robert Short

Rotterdam ? When boarding the flight in Toronto two weeks ago, the six-man GOA Reds indoor team thought that they were going to Europe to learn indoor hockey from some of the best club teams in the world. When boarding the flight to leave Prague, in the Czech Republic, the team had learnt a lot but were also carrying the tournament first-place trophy.

The tournament was held just ten minutes outside the center of Prague. The Canadian boys felt right at home with the hotel and indoor hockey stadium located adjacent to a large ice hockey complex. ?Jagr Sports? was also near-by for all ice-hockey needs.

On their arrival the team?s manager, Ed Fernandes, recruited the services of Ex-USA International Jeremy Cook. This was crucial in the teams success as it left them with three talented defensemen (Cook, Francis, and Fernandes) to share court-time.

John DeSouza, a retired Canadian International outdoor player, quarter-backed the team playing a distribution role from the middle. DeSouza?s passing, combined with overlapping attacking play from team captain Wayne Fernandes, started most of the offensive attacks. It was then left to forwards Gary Singh and Canadian Internationals, Rob Short and Ken Pereira to put the ball in the net. Pereira was dominant throughout the tournament and eventually was awarded the MVP trophy.

As in most indoor tournaments the champions are usually the team with the best penalty corner. GOA?s penalty corner was deadly with Fernandes scoring nineteen goals, the majority from corners.

In goal was Canadian International Hari Kant. As expected he was steady in his play and came up big for GOA in the final, stopping a number of great scoring opportunities.

Most of the games leading up to the final were controlled by GOA. One game that could?ve gone either way was against the Buccanneers from Holland. The Buccanneers held a two-goal lead going into the last five minutes, but two goals by Short and converted penalty corner by Fernandes sealed the victory. The final score was 9-8. GOA also defeated Zurich, Slavia, and Zagreb in pool play(scores are shown below).

The final was between GOA and Arminen from Austria, the winners from the other pool. GOA realised quickly that dictating the pace of this match was going to be much more difficult than the previous four matches. Throughout the final it was the Austrians with most of the possession with goalie Kant making a number of brilliant stops to keep GOA in the match. With five minutes to play things were looking bleak for GOA. They were down a goal and struggling to find any offence. With a late corner conversion they managed to even the score. It was then down to strokes.

Arminen were successful in their first stroke(1-0). Fernandes scored his for GOA(1-1). Arminen hit the post(still 1-1). Controversy came into play when Cook appeared to have been stopped by the Austrian keeper but the umpire called a goal after deciding the goalie had moved early(1-2). This was an unfortunate incident as this seemed to deflate Arminens? keeper. Pereira converted his(1-3). Arminen then missed another stroke with a great save from Kant(1-3). Short nailed the winner and the celebrations began(1-4 GOA wins in strokes).

After the match the crowd who was seen waving Canadian flags throughout the match joined in the teams jubilance.

The team from Toronto thoroughly enjoyed themselves and hope to return to the tournament in Prague next year. Thanks from the team must be given to the people that helped make this trip possible!

The tournament teams were as follows:


Arminen, Austria
Bohemians, Czech republic
Buccaneers, Holland
CR21, Czech Republic
MenziesHill, Scotland
Rosesellers, Germany
Slavia, Czech Republic
Zagreb, Croatia
Zurich, Switzerland


GOA?s results:

Fridays matches:
GOA vs Zurich Switzerland 10-7
GOA vs Buccaneers Holland 9-8
Saturdays matches:
GOA vs Slavia Czech Republic 8-6
GOA vs Zagreb Croatia 14-7
Sunday:
GOA vs Arminen Austria (FINALS) 4-4 4-2 (Strokes)


MVP Ken Pereira

Goal Scorers Wayne Fernandes 19 Goals
Rob Short 11 Goals
Ken Pereira 6 Goals
Gary Singh 6 Goals
John DeSouza 3 Goals

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