News and Announcements

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Four Vancouver Island athletes helped the Canadian women qualify for the 2021 Junior World Cup and claim a historic gold medal at the Junior Pan American Championships held this month in Santiago, Chile. Duncan’s Sara Goodman (Cowichan FHC/UBC Thunderbirds) captained the team that included Victoria’s Stefanie Sajko (Lynx/UVic Vikes), Anna Mollenhauer (Lynx/UVic Vikes) and Nora Struchtrup (Sailors/UVic Vikes). Victoria’s Nancy Mollenhauer was also present as the team’s manager.

The women’s gold medal was the first ever women’s gold medal at any Pan American championship and the first time a men’s or women’s team has won the junior championship.

After playing to a 0-0 draw in pool play, Canada took down Uruguay 1-0 in the finals, capping off an incredible undefeated run at the 2021 Pan American Games. By defeating Chile in the semifinals, Canada had already secured their berth in the 2021 Junior World Cup. They came into the finals riding high off the semifinal win and carried the momentum into the gold medal match. After three quarters of scoreless play, Canada’s penalty corner unit earned a PC in the 53rd minute. Anna Mollenhauer, one of Canada’s stalwart defenders and corner takers, mashed in a PC rocket, to give Canada the lead.

The men’s side fell short of Junior World Cup qualification and finished fourth overall and the team included Victoria’s Johnny Jacoby, who scored two games in Canada’s opening game.

More details: http://www.fieldhockey.ca/2021/08/18/junior-national-teams-play-for-world-cup-berth-in-chile/

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We hope you will join us for our September 7 Fall VILFHA meeting (7 pm). It is being held in person and simultaneously through the wonders of technology by ZOOM:
- In person – Juan de Fuca Lower Clubhouse (limited space)
- Zoom Link to follow. Please RSVP to vilfha@gmail.com to advise if you will be attending in person or via zoom.

Please invite your team members and other interested parties to participate. A reminder a minimum attendance of one representative per team is required.

Schedule will follow soon. If you haven’t already, please let us know at vilfha@gmail.com if you are looking for players – we do have a number of people who have approached the league looking to play.

All Executive positions are up for grabs. We are beyond bare-bones (5 individuals out of 9 positions). Please talk it up within your teams – we really need representation and are happy to host ZOOM meetings if it is simpler. Please let us know if you have ANY questions about these positions. We would love to fill them and share the workload.

Please remember that teams must name 2 Umpires or Umpires-in-Training – and there is excellent on line training and support available.

Thank you – and look forward to seeing you at the meeting – and finally on the field!

Vancouver Island Ladies Field Hockey Association (VILFHA)
2021-2022 Fall Meeting
September 7, 2021

1. Call to Order
2. Adoption of Agenda
3. Adoption of 2020 Fall Meeting Minutes
4. Executive Reports

  • President
  • Review of previous year
  • Plan for upcoming year
  • Goals for following year
  • Vice-President
  • Director of Membership
  • Secretary
  • Treasurer
    5. Financial Statements
    6. Proposed amendments to the Constitution, Bylaws, and Rules and Regulations
    7. Elections
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Island field hockey players celebrate the Junior Women’s National Team, who won gold at the Pan Am Games in Santiago, Chile!

Full story here.

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The Vancouver Island Men’s Field Hockey Association (VIFHA) is looking to hire a new League Administrator to start immediately.

Please find attached a Roles & Responsibilities document outlining the duties of the VIFHA League Administrator. We are looking to hire a new administrator to take over for the 2021-22 season. Much of the legwork for the league schedule has been completed. Training and transition support will be provided.

A committee led by the VIFHA President Nic Loewen and the league executive will conduct the hiring process.

An honorarium of $1,000 will be provided for the year. This may be pro-rated depending on the successful candidate’s start date.

Please circulate to hockey friends and families you think may be interested in taking on this key role for the men’s league.

Applicants are asked to apply by Friday, Sept. 3 by email to vifhainfo@gmail.com with a cc to Nic Loewen, VIFHA President: nbloewen@yahoo.ca.

Don Descoteau
VIFHA secretary

Photo Credit: Chris Wilson / Island Wave Photography

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Four Vancouver Island based athletes, all who grew up as members of VILFHA, are currently representing Canada at the Junior Pan American Championships in Santiago, Chile. Duncan’s Sara Goodman (UBC Thunderbirds, Cowichan FHC), as well as Victoria’s Anna Mollenhauer (UVic Vikes, Lynx), Stefanie Sajko (UVic Vikes, Lynx) and Nora Struchtrup (UVic Vikes, Sailors FHC) are helping Canada punch their ticket to the 2022 Junior World Cup. The Canadian women opened game one, Aug. 21, with a 0-0 tie against Uruguay. It will come down to both teams’ result against Argentina to see who comes out of pool play.

PAY-PER-VIEW LIVE STREAM: https://www.passline.com/panam-junior-hockey/
ROSTERS, SCHEDULES, RESULTS: http://www.fieldhockey.ca/event/junior-pan-american-championships-women/

Team Canada’s roster is peppered with experienced junior national team names such as UBC Thunderbirds, Sara Goodman, Thora Rae, Jordyn Faiczak and UVic Vike, Anna Mollenhauer, all of whom have senior international caps under their belt. They will look to bring that leadership and experience to this event, where even a few well-timed performances can vault the team into the World Cup. UBC TBird Ishaval Sekhon and Lucy Wheeler of West Van will be sharing duties in the Canadian net.

The original U21 Pan Am Cup was scheduled for 2020 but will now take place in August 2021. The age restrictions shifted to recognize the postponement of the tournament. Anyone born in 1999 or later will be eligible to compete in the Junior Pan American Cup but only those born in 2000 or later are eligible to compete in the Junior World Cup.

There is a strong NCAA contingent on this Canadian team as well. Madison Workman of Miami, Julia Ross from Maine, Dani Husar of Virgina, Bronwyn Bird from Dartmouth and Jenna Berger of UMass Lowell will all look to bring their college experience into the fold in Chile. Both the Canadian and American University system have a history of shepherding players from the junior level into the senior national team, and both are on full display this week.

Patrick Tshutshani took over the role as Nextgen Director and Junior Head Coach in 2019. Since then, he’s been working with this next generation cohort. They have been to camps and tournaments and played with and against each other for several years. This type of established chemistry will be a benefit as the tournament progresses. Tshutshani is joined on the bench by assistant coach and long-time FHBC coach, Jenn Beagan.

Victoria’s Nancy Mollenhauer is also on the ground as the team’s manager.