Jamaica hammered yet again

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC):

Caribbean teams Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica and Puerto Rico all remained winless as the second day of the 9th Pan-American Hockey Federation Junior Men's Championship concluded Saturday night.

While the region's quartet re-mained without a point, reigning champions Argentina humbled Puerto Rico 9-1 for their second straight win in Pool A, at the T&T Hockey Centre.

The South Americans, who began their quest for a record sixth title with a 15-0 blow-out of Jamaica on Friday, once again displayed great individual skill and team play to mesmerise Puerto Rico and, at the same time, entertain the crowd to climb to the top of the five-team group with maximum six points from two matches.

Star of the show

Martin Lopez was the star of the show for the Argentines with three well-taken goals - field goals in the 21st and 56th, followed by a 66th-minute penalty corner.

Alan Adino added a pair of goals for the Argentines, 4-0 leader at the half, while Leandro Tolini, the scorer of a tournament-high seven goals on day one, Augustin Mazzilli, Santiago Pando, and Lucas Minguillon also scored.

For Puerto Rico, Manuel Fernandez had briefly reduced the score with a 39th-minute field goal.

Prior to the lopsided Argentina/ Puerto Rico match, United States of America got their title-bid off and running via a 7-0 thrashing of Jamaica, after a first-day bye on Friday.

Will Holt was the main scorer for the Americans, with goals in the 15th, 44th, 50th, 64th and 67th minutes, four of which were from penalty corners.

Penalty stroke

Captain Jonathan Ginolfi had opened the scoring with a fourth-minute penalty stroke, while Manny Martinez chipped in with a 19th penalty corner against Jamaica, who have now conceded 22 goals in two matches without scoring.

In Pool B, Mexico, Canada and Chile all won to maintain 100 per cent winning records after two matches. However, Mexico lead due to a better goal difference.

The Mexicans, 8-0 victors over Brazil on Friday, were a bit more aggressive Saturday and steamrolled Guyana 13-0, led by Francisco Aguilar's six goals (4th, 35th, 37th, 39th, 51st, 70th) and three from Edgard Borquez (5th pen, 10th, 33rd) after leading 8-0 at the interval.

Following their 15-0 flattening of Guyana on Friday, Canada then edged past another Caribbean team, Barbados, in a tense encounter, 3-2 thanks to a 67th-minute winner from Stephen Bissett.

Chile followed up their 6-0 win over the Barbadians with another impressive 6-0 triumph, this time over Brazil, after leading 3-0 at the break with Jan Richter netting a treble, in the 11th, 39th and 44th minutes.

Yesterday was a rest day, while round-robin group play continues today.

At the end of last Thursday's preliminary round, the top-two teams in each group will meet in the cross-over semi-finals schedule, with the winners and third-place teams qualifying for the Junior World Cup to be jointly hosted by Malaysia and Singapore next June.

Canada went ahead in the 22nd minute via a field goal from Keegan Pereira but Errol Clarke drew the Barbadians level on the stroke of half-time, with a field goal of his own.

Four minutes into the second half, Canada regained the lead when Connor Meakin netted his first of the match, only for Barbados to level the match again in the 49th minute through Che Warner.

With an upset result just a few minutes away, Bissett dashed the dreams of the Barbadians with the winner three minutes from time.