Resilient Canadians capture bronze

The squad will head to Australia for the Pan Pacific tournament in early January.

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The Canada Cup is one of the premier women's water polo competitions in the calendar year. This year's event featured perennial powerhouses the Netherlands (gold at Beijing 2008), Australia (bronze at Beijing 2008) and China (silver at the 2011 World Championships) along with top 10 sides in the world rankings Hungary and Spain.

For Oaten, it was to be the chance to shape the roster into the likely unit that will attempt to qualify for the London 2012 Olympics in April. The emphasis would be on the implementation of tactics and an opportunity to look at the players who had missed out on the Pan Ams without risking results.

However, on the eve of the competition, the medical staff informed Oaten that all-world goalie Rachel Riddell would miss the tournament after an injury to the ligaments in her wrist, suffered during the Pan Am Games, had not sufficiently healed. Oaten was also informed that starting centre defence Christine Robinson was also out due to a suspected concussion while Anna Yelizarova had the flu. Further complicating matters was the fact that world-class outside shooter Emily Csikos would be playing despite a sore hip and fatigue brought about by medication for the hip. As if that was not enough, Oaten also learned that the team's second and third-string goaltenders were unavailable to replace Riddell in the Canadian net.

Things started out about as badly as one could imagine with a tournament opening 9-8 upset at the hands of Spain on Tuesday. Canada bounced back the very next day, delivering a 12-11 statement win over China. That victory came at a price as speedster Dominique Perreault, Canada's only left handed player, hyper-extended her elbow. The following day, with yet another re-jigged line-up, Canada quickly fell behind Australia 3-0 before succumbing to a 9-8 defeat.

The bad news continued on Friday morning as Oaten was told Joelle Békhazi was suffering from a suspected broken thumb. That night, the physical Hungarians laid a 14-9 beating on Oaten's further depleted squad.

At this point it would have been easy for Canada to throw in the towel. Doctors advised Csikos to rest; however she decided to play, as did Perreault, Bekhazy and Yelizarova. And play they did as Canada was able to pull out a thrilling 7-6 win over the Netherlands to earn a shot at redemption against Hungary in the bronze medal game.

Revenge was in the air and the Canadians punched back big time with a resounding 14-11 victory over the Magyars to capture the bronze medal.

"The players really challenged themselves for the game," Oaten said. "They knew it was going to be physical again. Our less-experienced players started to catch on to the system and their roles. Carmen Eggens, who didn't even make the Pan Am team, was our tournament MVP. With all the injuries, we got a chance to see more players play more minutes. And every time we thought someone could be erased from the list, they would step up."

For the elder of the Eggens sisters (younger sibling Monika is also part of the Canadian squad), it was all about proving herself.

"Lots of injuries are never good for the team. But it did give me a chance to show I can play at this level. In the first game, I started fronting the hole set and I thought to myself: 'Hey, I can do this against everybody.’ I'll do whatever the team needs me to do."

The emergence of new players was not lost on Csikos.

"No one is safe on the team now," she mused. "It's good because there hadn't been too much competition. I'm pretty exhausted right now and just want to go home and have a big meal and a long nap. It's a lot better to leave on a good note."

While the end result was positive, Oaten realized that there were several key areas of need that emerged.

"Our power play was an issue," Oaten pointed out. "There was a lack of familiarity. Also, we're not taking opportunities when they arise. The players keep looking for the perfect play instead of recognizing they have a quality shot."

The team got right back at it on Monday as Spain stayed on to have a 4-day common training. Following training, the squad will head to Australia for the Pan Pacific tournament in early January. After a brief stay at home, the team will travel to California for the first leg of the World League play downs against the USA and Brazil where Oaten will make his final selections for the Olympic qualifiers next April in Italy.

The players are focused and the team is resilient. The desire to excel oozes from the players. Békhazi probably summed it up best.

"We're not going there (Olympic Qualification Tournament) just to qualify. We're going there to win the tournament."

With drive like that, you have to like Canada's chances.