WKS Grunwald Poznan (POL), Izmailovo Moscow (RUS), Dinamo Kazan (RUS) and Grange HC (SCO) finished at the bottom of their respective Pools meaning that they are eliminated from the competition. A summary of the weekend’s action can be found below.
Pool A: Beeston HC made their title ambitions perfectly clear by recording two wins out of two in Pool A. The Englishmen claimed their biggest ever European scalp by defeating Dutch champions Amsterdam H&BC 5-4, surging back from 4-2 down to win 5-4. Martin Jones, David Ames and Mark Wadsley scored in the last ten minutes of the game to guarantee top spot in the Pool. The win added to their 6-0 victory over WKS Grunwald Poznan on Friday. Amsterdam – Silver medallists in the 2011-2012 season – eventually booked their place at KO16 thanks to a patchy 2-2 draw against Grunwald Poznan, a result which narrowly forced Grunwald out of the competition.
Pool C: H.C. Rotterdam and German champions Berliner HC marched into the second phase undefeated, with both teams crushing Grange HC before playing out an entertaining draw on Sunday. Berlin managed to rescue a draw from the match when Rotterdam’s Jeroen Hertzberger scored an own goal to tie the match at 2-2. However, Rotterdam’s huge 13-0 win over Grange – a new Euro Hockey League high scoring record – ensured that they had a superior goal difference over their German rivals. It was a miserable weekend for Grange, who also lost 8-0 against Berliner HC to finish bottom of the Pool without a goal to their name.
Pool E: Spanish champions Atlètic Terrassa and Belgian Royal Léopold THC booked their place at KO16 by proving just too good for Izmailovo Moscow. On Friday, the Russians were beaten 4-1 by Leopold with Atlètic also putting them to the sword with a 4-0 success. The results guaranteed that both Leopold and Atlètic had qualified for Round 2, but the Pool winner would be decided on Sunday’s meeting between the two teams. The match finished with the scores tied at 3-3, with Atlètic taking top spot in the Pool by virtue of having a marginally better goal difference. It was a fine result for an Atlètic team that has had to cope with the loss of seven players over the summer, including Spanish internationals Santi Freixa and Roc Oliva who are now with Amsterdam.
Pool F: Uhlenhorst Mülheim and Club de Campo de Madrid moved into the second phase of the Euro Hockey League, despite all three teams in this pool finishing with one win and one loss. Both Mülheim and Campo claimed six points but Mülheim won the group thanks to a slightly better goal difference. Russian champions Dinamo Kazan caused a huge shock when they stunned Spanish giants Club de Campo 3-2 in the opening match of the Pool, giving them a great chance of reaching their third successive KO16 tournament. The winning goal came from a blistering penalty corner flick from Imran Warsi. However, a 4-1 defeat against Mülheim on Saturday meant that a victory for Club de Campo against the Germans would see the Spaniards through to the next round. Campo produced a fine performance to win the match 4-3, with Olympic Gold medallists Moritz Fürste (pictured) amongst the scorers. The narrow margin of the defeat ensured that Mülheim gained the bonus point required for their safe passage through to Easter’s showpiece KO16 event.
A further 12 sides will hope to claim the remaining eight KO16 berths when EHL Round 1.2 takes place at East Grinstead HC in just less than two weeks’ time (26-28 October). It will be the first time that a Euro Hockey League event has been played on British soil. Like Round 1.1, you will be able to follow all of the action from the tournament on www.ehlhockey.tv, including free live-streaming, video highlights, action photos, match summaries and all official documentation. Tickets for the tournament are still available. For more details, please visit www.ehlhockey.tv .
Source Material: Euro Hockey League.
