Scottish Hockey Union: An experienced squad has been named to represent Scotland at the men's European Championships in Leipzig.
Three Olympians, four players who have broken the 100 cap mark and 13 of the 18 players who took part in the 2003 competition in Barcelona will all line up for their country in Germany.
The Scots have a major challenge ahead of them as they are, on paper at least, the underdogs in a group which features European and World Champions Germany, England who finished third in the 2003 competition and Belgium who finished sixth, two places ahead of the Scots. But National Coach and Scottish Institute of Sport High Performance coach Mathias Ahrens is confident that the Scots can make their mark; 'This is a strong team, the best players that we have at the moment. We have a very good chance of qualifying for the World Cup Qualifiers in '
While the management team has opted for an experienced core for their squad, they have included three young players who have demonstrated real potential in recent outings. Kelburne provides two such players in U21 squad member Chris Nelson and the much-fancied Michael Christie who is poised to make his second European championship appearance this season following his U18 campaign less than a month ago. Also staking his claim to a place in the squad on the back of his two goal contribution at the Celtic Cup is Stephen Dick of Inverleith, another U21 regular.
The Scots will be plunged in at the deep end as their first match is against reigning champions Germany. But they are no strangers to either Leipzig or the German team having played a two match test series against their hosts two weeks ago. Having been on the receiving end of two defeats on that occasion, the Scots will be using all that they learned from that experience to boost their fortunes this time around. Ahrens is well aware of the threat his countrymen pose to the Scots' campaign but is up for the challenge; 'The whole point of tournament play is securing results and that includes against the top teams like Germany. We will be going into this game with the aim of getting at least a point out of it, but obviously a result would be even better. What we must avoid is conceding too many goals.'
Realistically for the Scottish squad, who are supported by the Scottish Institute of Sport and Area Institutes of Sport, their real challenge will come in the cross over matches. The Scots must secure a top six finish to ensure that they can take their place in the World Cup Qualifiers in China next year.
Scotland's first match against Germany is at 1530 local time on Sunday 28 August.
Scotland Men
Jonathan Christie 45 Caps
Michael Christie 11 Caps
Stephen Dick 19 Caps
Graham Dunlop 100 Caps
Craig Harper 18 Caps
Kris Kane 49 Caps
Mike Leonard 106 Caps
Andy McBride 45 Caps
Alistair McGregor 32 Caps
Vishal Marwaha 110 Caps
David Mitchell 54 Caps
Graham Moodie 49 Caps
Chris Nelson 19 Caps
Mark Ralph 59 Caps
David Ralph 101 Caps
Andrew Sewnauth 45 Caps
Douglas Simpson 11 Caps
Niall Stott 45 Caps
Management Team
Team Manager: Eugene Connolly
Coach: Mathias Ahrens (Scottish Institute of Sport)
Assistant Coaches: Callum McLeod, Gordon Shepherd
