Ireland and Denmark made their mark on the opening day of the men’s EuroHockey Indoor Championship II-A while a trio of sides are on the march in II-B in Budapest.
In Paredes, Ireland are holding the early lead after two strong wins on the opening day in men’s Championship II-A.
They proved far too strong for Norway who were returning to the international stage after a long time away. The first half was tight with two goals in the difference from Craig Mackay and Ross Canning but Ireland cut loose in the second half with Canning ending with four goals en route to an 11-1 win.
They followed up with a 6-3 win against Lithuania – another returnee – as they recovered from a 2-0 deficit in the first quarter before scoring three times in the last 10 minutes.
Lithuania had earlier defeated Cyprus 3-1 with Mantvydas Pocevicius, Zyhimantas Balsiukas and Arnas Ridlauskas on the mark.
Denmark, meanwhile, are the other side with a perfect record thanks to a 13-2 victory over Norway – Magnus Thorsted top scored with five goals while Tobias Grand netted four.
Saturday’s key fixture looks to be the meeting of Ireland and Denmark at 6.15pm (GMT) when the two 100% records clash.
In II-B in Budapest, big scores were the order of the day as Italy, Slovakia and Türkiye all ran up two wins each by healthy scorelines.
The Turks began the day with a 13-2 success over Bulgaria with Kerem Özdemir and Celal Aydin both scoring four each. They backed It up with a 5-1 victory over the hosts Hungary, a late flurry of three goals making a tricky game safe.
Italy have the highest goal difference following back-to-back double-figure wins. They defeated Greece 14-1 and Bulgaria 13-2 with Alessandro Muzzioli grabbing eight of their tally, well supported by five from Marcello Succi.
Slovakia were the third side to get to six points from day one. Their first victory was a 15-1 success against Serbia with Matej Jelačič running riot with five goals and both Adrian Augsutinić and Daniel Petráš got four.
Jelačič then added a hat trick in a 6-2 win over Hungary in the day’s final match, helping build a 5-0 lead before the end of Q3.
In Friday’s penultimate game, Greece earned a special win over Serbia with Nikolas Dierckx getting the winning goal in the 40th minute, outdoing a hat trick from Adam Losonci in a 4-3 victory.
** Pictured above, Hungary celebrate a goal in Budapest. Picture: David Karádi
** For full results, scorers and match data from Paredes, click here
** For full results, scorers and match data from Budapest, click here
