Royal Léopold were the first side confirmed in the men’s EuroHockey Indoor Club Cup in Wettingen with Saturday morning set for plenty of fireworks in the race to join them.
Pool A
In the day’s opening game, three penalty strokes in the second half saw Sanse Complutense run up a 6-3 win over OKS SHVSM Vinnitsa. Juan Garcia’s beautiful top corner shot had the Spanish side level at 1-1 at half-time before taking full control late in the second half.
Mannheimer HC were too good for Gaziantep Polisgücü, running up a 10-1 success with Jan Wentscher, Luis Holste, Peer Hinrichs and Ben Hasbach all scoring twice.
In the evening session, OKS SHVSM were grateful to a run of three Oleksii Popov goals in the last three minutes to lift them to an 8-5 win over Gaziantep.
The Turkish side were in the mix at 4-3 and 5-4 with 38 minutes gone before a mad-cap finish fell the way of the side from Vinnitsa.
Mannheimer HC made it two twins from two when they left it late to overcome Complu in a tense battle, two late goals making the difference. The Spanish side led 1-0 for a long time thanks to Juan Muñoz’s third minute goal.
And that was how it stayed until 12 minutes from the end when Luis Holste levelled while the 2-1 winner came in the dying moments via Jossip Anzeneder.
The win has then on 10 points with a draw or better against OKS SHVSM assuring them of top spot in the group.
For Complu, they will know their full equation before they take the court against Gaziantep.
| COMPLUTENSE – OKSVINNITSA | 6 – 3 |
| MANNHEIMER – GAZIANTEP | 10 – 1 |
| GAZIANTEP – OKSVINNITSA | 5 – 8 |
| COMPLUTENSE – MANNHEIMER | 1 – 2 |
| Rank | Team | Pl | W | D | L | Goal Diff | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mannheimer HC (GER) | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 10 |
| 2 | Sanse Complutense (ESP) | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 6 |
| 3 | OKS-SHVSM Vinnitsa (UKR) | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| 4 | Gaziantep Polisgücü SK (TUR) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -12 | 0 |
Pool B
Royal Léopold’s goal machine Philippe Simar scored a hat trick to get them off to a winning start, seeing off debuting Voordaan in the first game of Pool B.
He scored the first before the experienced duo Tom Degroote and Tanguy Zimmer traded goals in the first half with Hidde Plantenga and Thomas van Battum for 3-3.
But Léo picked off the key chances in the second half for a 6-4 success.
Rotweiss Wettingen delighted their lively home crowd with a 6-4 win over HAHK Mladost – the 2024 bronze medalists – with captain Michel Morard to the fore.
His double in the first few minutes meant they led throughout, building a 3-1 Q1 lead and then adding two more in Q3 to start out of range at 5-2.
In the evening session, Voordaan recorded a famous first win on the European stage when they defeated HAHK Mladost 6-2 with a hat trick from Mike Huisman in the first half proving pivotal.
Léopold moved up to 10 points with their second win of the day when they swept to a 13-4 win over Rotweiss Wettingen with four goals each from Dylan Englebert and Philippe Simar.
They lead the group with 10 points and a place in the semi-finals with Voordaan and Rotweiss battling for the other spot in the final four from the group.
| MLADOST – WETTINGEN | 4 – 6 |
| VOORDAAN – LEOPOLD | 4 – 6 |
| LEOPOLD – WETTINGEN | 13 – 4 |
| MLADOST – VOORDAAN | 2 – 6 |
| Rank | Team | Pl | W | D | L | Goal Diff | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Royal Leopold Club (BEL) | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 10 |
| 2 | MMHC Voordaan (NED) | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 6 |
| 3 | HC Rotweiss Wettingen (SUI) | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | -7 | 5 |
| 4 | HAHK Mladost (CRO) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -6 | 1 |
