HAHK Mladost and Sanse Complutense completed the men’s WEMPE EuroHockey Indoor Club Cup semi-final line-up as they scored vital wins over Wimbledon and Royal Léopold, respectively.
For Complutense, they advance to face Harvestehuder THC (6.35pm CET) in the first semi while Mladost will play hdm at 8pm (CET) for a place in Sunday’s final.
Before those semis, meanwhile, there is still the last two relegation spots to tidy up. WKS Grunwald Poznan’s 3-2 defeat to Gaziantep Polisgücü means Poland’s representative will play in the second tier in 2025.
The same fate awaits Austria as SV Arminen could not get the win they needed against LUC Ronchin, a 3-3 draw putting them into the 9th-10th place playoff.
The Gaziantep win was the first match of the day and it was tight throughout. Ali Akin Özkiliç and Mikolaj Głowacki shared goals before Müslüm Elagoz gave the Turkishn side a narrow half-time lead.
Crucially, Celal Aydin swept in from close range with five minutes to go, rendering Damian Jarzembowski’s last minute effort a consolation.
For Mladost, they had to do it the hard way in front of their big band of passionate fans. Wimbledon led 2-0 via a Ben Francis first-time shot and Ed Horler’s corner goal.
But a pair of Patrick Schmidt corners levelled matters and then classy Q3 goals from Josip Jazbec and a delightful Anže Fujs lifted goal made it 4-2. Horler cut the gap but Schmidt’s third corner and an effort from Jonas Gomoll earned a 6-3 result.
Next up, Complutense had goals on their mind with the hope they could land a nine-goal win over Royal Léopold and top Pool B and they got off to a perfect start with first quarter goals from Javier Sainz and Manuel Rodriguez.
But the Belgians had semi-final intentions of their own and scored five of the next goals to create a 5-3 lead in the third quarter.
Complutense, though, stayed calm and worked their way back with Ignacio Cobos and Rodriguez levelling the game and then a run of three more in Q4 put them out of reach.
Léo got two back but the Spanish side ran up four goals in the last two minutes to stretch out a 12-7 win.
Completing the group phases, LUC Ronchin got their first result in the top division when they held out SV Arminen in a heart-stopping battle.
François de Bettignies’s corners put the French side 2-0 up, Max Kelner replied but an Anatole Rémy stroke save kept Ronchin just in front. Félix Cuacheteux then advanced the lead to 3-1.
Arminen battled back with Daniel Fröhlich in the 38th minute and Robert Campe in the closing 30 seconds drawing the game level. But they needed a win that proved elusive, leaving LUC Ronchin to celebrate a lifeline.
They will play Gaziantep at 5.10pm (CET) with the winner keeping their nation in the top tier while, before that, Léo face Wimbledon at 3.45pm (CET) with the same equation at hand.
The day’s action concludes with SV Arminen playing WKS Grunwald Poznan at 9.25pm (CET) – please note this game will not be streamed.
** Watch the action live on www.eurohockeytv.org
** Tournament scores and updates all available here: https://eurohockey.altiusrt.com/competitions/323
