Harvestehuder THC, Wimbledon, Sanse Complutense and hdm are all unbeaten after day one of the men’s WEMPE EuroHockey Indoor Club Cup following a raucous start to the competition in Vienna’s Arminen Dome.
In Pool A, Harvestehuder THC showed their class to be the only side with two wins from the opening day. First up, they blew away Türkiye’s Gaziantep Polisgücü, building a 4-0 lead from which they eventually grew to 10-2 win with Michaek Körper scoring four times.
Life was far tougher against HAHK Mladost who were within one goal going into the final quarter, trailing just 4-3 to the German giants. A six-goal blitz, however, changed the complexion of the fixture with Körper scoring four more and Fabian Unterkircher added three classy efforts.
Wimbledon, meanwhile, had a day to remember as they put seven points on the scoreboard in their first ever Euro indoor fixtures.
They suffered an early jitter against WKS Grunwald Poznan but fought back to win 3-1 with Ben Francis, Samuel Hooper and Rhys Bradshaw all scoring.
And they followed up with a rollercoaster 4-4 draw against Gaziantep in which they led 2-1 at half-time before falling behind 3-2 and then led 4-3. Akin Ali Özkiliç got the key equaliser to keep the Turkish club alive in the competition.
In Pool B, Sanse Complutense hold top spot after day one with seven points from the ten on offer. They were initially rocked by hdm with the Dutch club building a 3-0 lead with Mustapha Cassiem in inspiring form.
But the Spanish outfit has played a lot together and calmly played their way back in and they Cesar Curiel made it 4-4 within the last 10 seconds for two points.
They backed that up with a powerful win over French side LUC Ronchin 9-3 with Manuel Rodriguez scoring five times, four of them – as well as picking up a yellow card – coming in the final quarter.
For the French side, it was a rough first day at this level. They looked set for a dream start when they built a 4-1 lead over an injury-ravaged Royal Léopold who only had eight players available for this weekend.
But Max Plennevaux was in effervescent form, pulling out his box of tricks. They were level midway through the third quarter and went ahead when experienced duo Tanguy Zimmer and Tom Degroote combined from corners, 6-5.
Arthur Golliot’s fourth of the game did make it level in the final minute but Zimmer popped up again to score a 7-6 win.
With a huge crowd behind them, SV Arminen hoped to make a big impression in the final game of day one but they found a hdm side keen to spoil the party.
Cassiem and Chris Taberima edged hdm in front at half-time and they both scored again in Q3 to make it 4-1 with fast, solo breaks.
And they never looked back, adding another couple in the closing quarter to make for a handsome 7-1 win.
Day two gets up and running with the two unbeaten sides in Pool A facing off with Harvestehuder THC putting their 100% record to the test against newcomers Wimbledon (10am CET).
WKS Grunwald Poznan and HAHK Mladost will be keen to get their first win on the board when they meet at 11.15am (CET).
Pool B’s first games of the day see LUC Ronchin up against hdm at 12.30pm (CET) with the latter hoping to move a step closer to the semi-finals.
Hosts Arminen will be keen to get on the board against Royal Léopold at 1.45pm (CET) to close out the early session.
In the evening, the atmosphere looks set to raise a further couple of notches with big crowds anticipated. It starts off with Gaziantep taking on Mladost in the 4pm slot (CET).
HTHC will look to have a semi-final spot pinned down when they take on Grunwald Poznan at 5.15pm (CET) in what is the German club’s final group game.
Then hdm face Léo in Pool B at 6.30pm (CET), the Dutch side’s closing group game. And the day closes with a potential battle royale at 7.45pm between Sanse Complutense and SV Arminen at 7.45pm.
** Watch the action live on www.eurohockeytv.org
** Tournament scores and updates all available here: https://eurohockey.altiusrt.com/competitions/323
