Michael Körper proved once more to be the coolest man in the house as he netted the vital shoot-out to help Harvestehuder THC win the WEMPE EuroHockey Indoor Club Cup after an outstanding final against hdm.
During normal time, he also inspired a major comeback with five goals to his name to transform a 4-1 half-time deficit into a 6-4 lead.
hdm produced their own comeback with player of the tournament Mustapha Cassiem in storming form to help earn the 6-6 and a shoot-out chance.
But HTHC produced a perfect set of three while Jasper Ditzer came off the bench and he kept out the second hdm effort from Yorben Fontaine. It proved vital, giving the stage to Körper to flick in the winning goal.
Early on, hdm produced a divine start with Fontaine scoring in the first minute and then Chris Taberima doubled up from far in the right corner.
Körper reduced the gap after a series of corners but hdm continued to push on with Wiegert Schut scoring a corner and then it was 4-1 via Cassiem’s driving run and flick into the top corner.
The game, however, turned in Q3 in dramatic fashion as HTHC ran up five goals with Körper scoring four of them – two corners, one stroke and one from play – with Fabian Unterkircher breaking up the sequence.
That made it 6-4 going into the final quarter but hdm regrouped and had one back when Cassiem was fouled to allowed Sander Groenheijde to net a stroke. Ruben Versteeg tied it up with six minutes to go and that proved to be the final goal of normal time.
It set the scene for Körper to seal the deal and there was not a dry eye in the house as the tournament top scorer was honoured after the medal ceremony by the Austria federation for his incredible international career, encompassing 273 caps and over 300 goals.
In the bronze medal match, HAHK Mladost held off a big comeback from Sanse Complutense to win their first ever indoor Club Cup medal.
It was built around their excellent first half in offence and then they defended superbly in the second to stay clear of the Spanish champions.
Gregor Fujs got their first two goals, one from a corner and one from play, before Cesar Curiel halved the deficit.
Patrick Schmidt and Anže Fujs extended their advantage to 4-1 at half-time and they spent the remainder of the game suppressing Complutense’s concerted forward momentum.
Ivan Hernandez got one back after four penalty corners and, in the last minute, Manuel Rodriguez reduced the margin to 4-3 but that was all they could muster in a cracking contest.
Gaziantep Polisgücü equaled their best ever finish as they won the fifth place playoff 13-6 against Royal Léopold with Ali Akin Özkiliç top scoring with four. It was 5-1 at half-time and the tiring Léo never looked like closing the gap with their tiring legs.
Wimbledon finished their debut Euro indoor competition in seventh place with a 7-4 win over LUC Ronchin’s whose debut at this level earned them eighth overall. It came primarily via six second half goals after the French outfit had a 2-1 half-time lead.
WEMPE EuroHockey Indoor Club Cup Men (Vienna, Austria) – final standings
- Harvestehuder THC (Germany)
2. hdm (Netherlands)
3. HAHK Mladost (Croatia)
4. Sanse Complutense (Spain)
5. Gaziantep Polisgücü (Türkiye)
6. Royal Léopold (Belgium)
7. Wimbledon (England)
8. LUC Ronchin (France)
9. SV Arminen (Austria)
10. WKS Grunwald Poznan (Poland)
Player of the tournament: Mustapha Cassiem (hdm)
Goalkeeper of the tournament: Joey van Walstijn (hdm)
Top Goalscorer: Michael Körper (Harvestehuder THC)
** Watch the action live on www.eurohockeytv.org
** Tournament scores and updates all available here: https://eurohockey.altiusrt.com/competitions/323
