Argentinian hockey demonstrated that the future of its national hockey squads is in good health as both the men and the women's youth teams took the honours at the Pan American Youth Championships, played over consecutive weekends.
The men's and the women's tournaments were continental qualifiers for the Youth Olympic Games and the top two teams in both earned their passage to the prestigious event, which takes place in Nanjing, China in August. This means that Argentina men and women will be joined in China by the Canadian men's team and the surprise runners-up, Uruguay, in the women's section.
In the final of the men's competition, which took place in Puerto Rico, Argentina beat Canada by a convincing 5-2 scoreline, while the women were even more emphatic champions, beating host nation Uruguay 4-0.
In the women's tournament, the USA took bronze medal, although the team will have felt especially aggrieved to have missed out on a place in the final as they had beaten Uruguay twice in the pool matches. Two early goals from Uruguay in the quarter finals meant the USA team were always chasing the game and they eventually lost 3-1. In the men's pool, Mexico were delighted with their third place finish, after a sparkling 4-2 win over the USA.
The tournaments demonstrated how hockey is developing across the continent, with many relative newcomers entering teams in the competition. Uruguay and Mexico joined the big hitters Argentina and the USA in the women's tournament, while Puerto Rico, Mexico and Guatemala increased the competitive nature of the men's competition. Argentina took full advantage of an inexperienced Guatemalan team to notch up a hue score. The final scoreline of 33-0 left the Argentinians with a goal difference of 68 in the five pool matches.
The coach of the Canadian men's team, Anthony Farry, was delighted with his team's performances over the course of the tournament, despite the loss to Argentina in the final. "As we discuss after each game, the improvements are evident," he said. "The game sense is developing and we are on the right track. This was another opportunity for our inexperienced team to play a quality nation like Argentina."
