VANCOUVER – UBC Thunderbirds men's field hockey players and alumni will be instrumental in Canadian success as the 2018 Odisha Hockey Men's World Cup opens this morning Bhubaneswar, India.
 
Of the 18 players on the Team Canada roster that will face Belgium at 3:30 a.m. PT Wednesday morning, two are current T-Birds players, while another 10 are alumni.
 
Veterans Scott Tupper (defender), Mark Pearson (midfielder) and David Carter (goalkeeper) – all former UBC varsity players – lead the Red Caribou into battle with over 500 international caps between them. Nineteen-year-old Jamie Wallace (midfielder/forward), a current Thunderbird, received his first senior caps in July and has since made impact enough to crack the World Cup roster.
 

Defender Balraj Panesar is the other UBC player on Team Canada.
 
The remaining T-Birds alumni competing for Canada at the World Cup are: Richard Hildreth (midfielder/forward), Gordon Johnston (defender), Antoni Kindler (goalkeeper), Keegan Pereira (forward), Matthew Sarmento (forward), Oliver Scholfield (forward) and John Smythe (midfielder/forward). Additionally, alumnus Taylor Curran is one of four alternates.
 

 
Canada is currently ranked 11th in the world and is the third seed in Pool C, which also features Belgium (ranked third), India (fifth), and South Africa (15th).
 
The team placed 11th in its last World Cup appearance in 2010. The 2018 tournament will run through December 16.
 
- With files from Field Hockey Canada