Harvestehuder THC and hdm will contest the men’s WEMPE EuroHockey Indoor Club Cup final as they raised the Arminen Dome roof, delighted a rowdy full house of fans.
The two sides will be hoping for more of the same atmosphere on Sunday when they showdown at 2pm (CET) in a potentially epic encounter.
HTHC were the first side to reach the final as they proved too accurate for Sanse Complutense. The Spaniards did grab the lead in the sixth minute via Pablo Roman who slipped home a neat goal.
The response was immediate with Michael Körper firing back with a hat trick in quick succession, making it 3-1 before the end of Q1.
For good measure, he ripped a rocket into the top corner for 4-1. Antonio Sanz del Campo and Manuel Rodriguez kept HTHC honest but the German side still maintained a 6-3 lead into half-time.
It remained that way through Q3 as Complu spent most of the time on the attack but were unable to create enough against a disciplined HTHC defence.
As such, they were only caught again in the last two minutes when Jonas van Gersum and Fabian Unterkircher netted into an open net for an 8-3 victory.
hdm followed them into the final with a contrasting performance against Croatias HAHK Mladost, a tight-knit first half compared to a breath-taking second half, packed with beautiful counter-attack goals for a 12-2 win.
Indeed, it was scoreless until a minute before half-time when Wiegert Schut and Mustapha Cassiem scored twice in a matter of seconds. Gergor Fujs’s corner ensured it was close at the break, 2-1 to the Dutch.
But hdm cut loose more and more as time wore on. Yorben Fontaine scored from the left corner, a Sander Groenheijde stroke made it 4-1 and Schut tacked on another.
And it was party time for the Hague club in the closing quarter with Schut netting two more, Cassiem completing a hat trick while Chris Taberima and Cedric de Gier got in on the act.
Earlier in the session, Gaziantep Polisgücü and Royal Léopold kept a place in the top division for their respective nations as they saw off the challenge of LUC Ronchin and Wimbledon, respectively.
For the French and English teams, it means their representatives in 2025 will play in the club trophy along with the already demoted Polish and Austrian sides.
Tanguy Zimmer was the inspiration once again for Léo as he scored six times in a 9-4 win over Wimbledon. They led from the start with Max Plennevaux continuing his outstanding form for a 2-0 lead.
Evan Kimber nicked one back but Zimmer’s first pair made it 4-1 at half-time and they never looked in trouble in the second half. An Ed Horler closed the gap a little but Tom Degroote’s stroke and a wonderful counter from Zimmer extended the lead to 6-2.
And he added three more as they picked off Wimbledon as they endeavoured to chase the game.
For Gaziantep, they were initially on the back foot against Ronchin, trailing 3-1 eaely in the second half to goals from Gabriel Piole, Arthur Golliot and Ludovic Fourcroy.
But the Turkish outfit scored the next six goals to win out 7-3 with Müslüm Ekinci, Celal Aydin and Müslüm Elagoz all netting two each.
In the ninth place playoff, SV Arminen finally gave their local support something to cheer as they were too strong for WKS Grunwald Poznan.
Sunday’s schedule begins with Wimbledon facing LUC Ronchin in the seventh place playoff at 9.30am (CET); fifth place will be decided between Royal Léopold and Gaziantep Polisgücü at 11am (CET).
Then the medals will be decided. The bronze medal match hits the boards at 12.30pm (CET) between Sanse Complutense and HAHK Mladost.
** Watch the action live on www.eurohockeytv.org
** Tournament scores and updates all available here: https://eurohockey.altiusrt.com/competitions/323
