The final day of tournament action from EHL Round 1.1 in Eindhoven featured two of the weekend's best matches.
The first game of the day will certainly go down as an all time EHL classic, as Belgium's Dragons defeated mighty UHC Hamburg, the reigning champions. Dutch sides HGC and hosts Oranje Zwart were once again winners, while Club de Campo secured a brilliant draw with Rot-Weiss Koln to finish top of Pool B.
More information about the matches can be found below.
Dazzling Dragons stun champions UHC Hamburg
KHC Dragons stunned reigning Euro Hockey League champions UHC Hamburg with a brilliant display of attacking hockey to claim a famous 4-2 victory.
All six goals were of the highest quality, as Renaud Pangrazio and Charles Vanderweghe established a 2-0 lead for the Belgian champions before stunning strikes from Marco Miltkau and Max Neumann tied the scores in the second half. Incredibly, a breathtaking penalty corner from Loick Luypart and a deflected finish from Florent van Aubel killed off the challenge from the famous German club. It was a simply stunning game that showed all of the passion, flair and quality associated with the Euro Hockey League.
The result means that Dragons have finished top of Pool E, which means that they will avoid a top seed in the draw for Round 2.
“It was important for us to win, I guess, but regardless of today’s result we were still in the draw for the next round so I think we have to put it into context”, said KHC Dragons coach Colin Batch shortly after the end of the match. “We are very pleased that we won the game, we played well against a good team who had a couple of players out. They will be much stronger at Easter. It was a very pleasing result for us as it was our first time in the competition.”
When asked about how important it was for his team to finish top of the Pool table, Batch said: “You do get a favoured draw, but every team in the second round will be difficult to beat.”
To read the full report, click here.
HGC’s van Ass scores twice to sink Pembroke Wanderers
Dutch giants HGC were given a tough test by Irish champions Pembroke Wanderers but held their nerve to secure maximum points in the second match of Day 3 in Eindhoven.
Wouter Brasem and David van Ass scored a goal each as HGC dominated the opening period, although the Irishmen were a much improved side in the second quarter. HGC’s third goal arrived in the second half through Dick Mohlman before Pembroke Wanderers striker Brandon Panther scored from a penalty corner to reduce the deficit. HGC re-established their three goal advantage when David van Ass netted his second goal of the game with a close range finish. Pembroke pressed hard in the closing stages to get something from the game and scored again when Craig Wilson volleyed in a penalty corner rebound which came off the post. It proved to be the last goal of the game, but the narrow defeat meant that Pembroke had secured a bonus point in the pool table.
HGC will now go into the draw for KO16 as Pool winners, with Pembroke having also achieved qualification for the second round.
“We only needed a tie to finish top of the pool so I think we did ok in the first half but I think we struggled in the third and fourth quarters”, said HGC and Canada midfielder Kenny Pereira immediately following the game. “Six wins and you can win the EHL. We have won two and will look towards the next round.”
To read more, click here.
Dinamo reach KO16 despite defeat against Oranje Zwart
Oranje Zwart made it two wins from two in their first ever Euro Hockey League season with a crushing 7-2 triumph over HC Dinamo Kazan of Russia.
Lucas Judge was again the man of the moment for OZ, netting two goals to confirm his place at the top of the EHL scorers charts with six goals ahead of this evening’s match between Club de Campo and Rot-Weiss Köln. Despite the loss, the result was good enough to give Dinamo Kazan a place in KO16 as Pool H runners up behind the tournament hosts.
To read the full report, click here.
Club de Campo hold Rot-Weiss to win Pool B
A pulsating encounter between German giants Rot-Weiss Köln and Spain’s Club de Campo ended with a 2-2 score-line, which was good enough to ensure that the team from Madrid finished as the winners of Pool B. It was another sensational match of high drama, bringing the curtain down on a superb weekend of Round 1.1 action at HC Oranje Zwart.
The German champions took the lead in spectacular fashion when Philipp Brandes unleashed a ferocious reverse stick shot into the roof of the net from the left before Oli Markowski levelled the scores with a penalty corner conversion in the second quarter. Club de Campo took the lead for the first time in the match when Juan Lainz capitalised on a mistake from Tibor Weissenborn, but the Germans hit back through a penalty corner finish from Fabian Bauwens-Adenauer.
The result was good enough to ensure that Madrid will go into the draw for Round 2 as the top seed from Pool B on goal difference, with Rot-Weiss also qualifying for Easter’s KO16 event.
To read more, click here.
Round 1.2 of the Euro Hockey League takes place in two weeks at Atletic Terrassa HC, near Barcelona, Spain. For more information about the Euro Hockey League, please visit www.ehlhockey.tv .
