Hosts HC Bondeno and KPH Rača both won twice to confirm their place in the promotion pool in Ferrara while there is plenty still to be determined in Pool B of the men’s EuroHockey Indoor Club Challenge.
For Bondeno, it was a dream debut as they were too strong for Lithuania’s Vilnius Žuvedra in their first outing, Alessandro Muzzioli scoring twice in a 6-2 victory.
And he added another pair to finish the day as four goals from Bondeno in the first nine minutes laid the base for a 7-1 win over FHC Slavia 1921.
They are joined on 10 points by Rača who were 10-2 winners against Žuvedra having beaten Slavia 6-1 with Matej Jelačič grabbing eight of the goals for the Slovakian outfit.
It means Saturday morning’s match between Bondeno and Rača will determine what points they carry into the promotion pool while the same can be said for Vilnius and Slavia with both looking to bring points into Pool C.
Pool B is being led by Épitök who have accumulated two wins. They impressed in game one to defeat Finland’s HT85 9-3 with captain Márton Wesselényi scoring a hat trick.
Next, early goals from Hannes Hessler and Zsigmond Szóga helped the Hungarian team defeat Triglav Predanovci 5-2.
Those wins have Épitök five clear at the top of the table and with a favourable goal difference before they meet third placed Cardiff & Met.
The Welsh club did land a 5-4 success against HT85, an epic decided in the final minute. The Finns levelled at 4-4 only for Josh Mill to nick an even later winner.
The Welsh side, though, were defeated by Triglav in their opening game 4-1 as Nejc Potokar scored three times in the second half.
Cardiff need to get something from their game against Épitök first up but they know Triglav will always have their destiny in their own hands.
** To follow the scores and fixtures from Ferrara, click here
