Officials proud of hockey feat

"I am elated with the achievement of the guys. We were able to improve on our third place two years ago," Craig-Rousseau said.

She said that TT men had closed the gap on Canada.

"There is only a one or two goal difference between the two teams and on any given day, the result can go either way," Craig-Rousseau explained. She also praised the national women’s team who failed to duplicate their 2003 performance, but still managed to place third.

In 2003, TT qualified for the World Cup in Germany, but this time with only one spot available, Canada beat USA 2-1 to book the berth. "If you look at the team, you will see that there were a number of Under-21 players and they showed that they were capable of performing at the top," Craig-Rousseau said.