Men’s EuroHockey Club Trophy II (Lousada, Portugal)

Final: AD Lousada (POR) – WKS Grunwald Poznan (POL) 3-3, Lousada win shoot-out 5-4

AD Lousada went the distance to finally win the men’s EuroHockey Club Trophy II on home turf, denying WKS Grunwald Poznan following an epic final in Portugal.

The Poles had the early momentum courtesy of a Łukasz Rybarski goal in the 14^th minute and while Ricardo Teixeira equalised, Artur Mikula put Grunwald in front once more in Q3.

Lousada, however, summoned a brilliant comeback, going level in the 50^th minute via José Valinhas and then took the lead for the first time through José Marques.

But, in the face of a series of penalty corners, they could not hold on to the final whistle with Damian Jarzembowski struck in the last minute to make it 3-3.

In the shoot-out, the Polish team took a 2-1 lead after two rounds but were pegged back to 3-3 by the end of the regulation series. Sudden death followed where Lousada eventually were able to celebrate gold, Gonçalo Marques getting the crucial goal while André Romariz did the vital goalkeeping.

3^rd/4^th Place: Slagelse (DEN) – HC Bra (ITA) 4-9

The great entertainers, HC Bra signed off on the bronze medal following a typically high-scoring affair with Andrii Koshelenko adding four more to his tournament total.

The Italian side’s four matches brought 44 goals over the weekend with Koshelenko topping the goalscoring chart with 10 to his name.

Captain Priyesh Bhana and Markus Hansen exchanged first quarter goals but it was all Bra after that, netting the next seven goals in the fixture with Simone Ghiglia (two) and Nicolas Calò on target.

Slagelse did go on a late scoring run but they were too far back to make a difference to the final outcome and had to settle for a fourth place finish.

5^th/6^th Place: GD do Viso (POR) – HK Zelina (CRO) 5-5, Zelina win shoot-out 3-2

HK Zelina eventually got by the challenge of GD do Viso after a titanic tussle in which the Croatian side led four times in normal time but finally needed a shoot-out to get the victory.

Dominik Hrupec and Ivan Šoić built a 2-0 lead but Diogo Fereira and Bruno Oliveira tied things up in rapid succession only for Mihael Posavec to put Zelina back in front in the second before half-time.

Warren Grobler evened it up again in Q3 at 3-3 only for Posavec – both from corners – to eke our 4-3 and 5-4 leads. The latter came in the 57^th minute but there was still time for Viso to equalise through Paulo Plasta.

In the shoot-out, however, Mario Ilinović scored the winning effort for a 4-2 success.

Final standings:

1. AD Lousada (POR)

2. WKS Grunwald Poznan (POL)

3. HC Bra (ITA)

4. Slagelse HC (DEN)

5. HK Zelina (CRO)

6. GD do Viso (POR)

7. Rotweiss Wettingen (SUI)

Player of the Tournament: Priysh Bhana, Andrii Koshelenko (both HC Bra)
Goalkeeper of the Tournament: Łukasz Miś (WKS Grunwald Poznan)
Leading Goalscorer: Andrii Koshelenko (both HC Bra)