Robert Pawlak held his nerve to brilliantly send Poland through to their first men’s EuroHockey Indoor Championship final since 2006 where they will meet Germany in the decider.
Henrik Mertgens scored a last minute winner to send Germany through to the final. It gave them a 5-4 win over Belgium in a semi-final rollercoaster in which the lead swapped hands three times and there was never more than a goal in the difference.
Gaetan Dykmans and Constantin Staib exchanged corner goals in the first quarter before Staib’s second goal nudge the Germans in front at half-time.
Belgium roared back with teenagers Guerlain Hawaux and Max Langer scoring in quick succession for a 3-2 lead. Adrian Lehmann-Richter’s high shot squeezed its way in level it once more but a Mallory Magnant drive – just inside the circle – saw Belgium lead going into the final quarter.
Erik Kleinlein’s corner tied it at four each and that is how it stayed until the closing seconds when Mertgens made his way on to launch home the winning shot.
The second semi-final was an exceptionally close affair with Poland eventually edging out Austria in a shoot-out in sudden death.
It proved the lowest scoring game of the tournament so far with the teams sharing two goals in normal time. Fülöp Losonci’s swooping effort hit the top corner in the 13th minute from the right of the D to break the deadlock after Poland missed an earlier stroke.
Poland controlled the ball for long periods of the second half and were denied from a series of penalty corners by Christoph Sandbichler. They got their equaliser with four minutes to go when Marcin Lewartowski pounced on a rebound.
That was enough to send it to shoot-out where Pawlak and Gracjan Jarzyński both scored to make it 2-2, countering Losonci and Sebastian Eitenberger efforts. In sudden death, Mateusz Popiolkowski denied Losonci, allowing Pawlak to spin in a great goal for 3-2.
Poland will now face Germany in a repeat of the 2006 men’s EuroHockey Indoor Championship final at 2pm (CET) to cap an outstanding weekend of indoor in Leuven.
Reigning champions Austria who must now regroup and prepare to face hosts Belgium in the bronze match. That one takes place at 12.30pm (CET).
Earlier, both games in the fifth to eighth place playoffs went to a shoot-out. Spain survived a last minute equaliser from Czechia to compose themselves with Adrian Rafi saving two shoot-out efforts to win out in the end.
Normal time had ended 3-3 with a double from Ignacio Abajo and one from Manuel Prol were countered by Czech goals from Martin Seemann, Josef Toms and Adam Uhlíř.
Switzerland continued their great run of results as they added to their morning win over Germany with a shoot-out success against Portugal.
The Portugeuse made the early inroads, building a 5-2 lead with Halfmann brothers Laurens and Quentin both scoring. The Swiss side, however, ground them down via Boris Stomps, Michel Morard and Loris Grandchamp.
It sent it to another shoot-out which was level after the regulation first three rounds, eventually extending to a sixth round where Grandchamp scored the vital effort.
Croatia, meanwhile, made a piece of history with their first top division victory when they beat Ukraine 6-4 in the last match of Saturday. It means they finished in ninth place overall with Ukraine in tenth.
Sunday gets under way with two ranking matches with Czechia facing Portugal in the first game at 9.30am (CET) with seventh place up for grabs. Then Spain take on Switzerland for fifth spot at 11am (CET).
All four matches will be live on www.eurohockeytv.org as the 21st edition of the competition comes to a crescendo.
** To find out all the results, fixtures and stats, click here
