Slagelse and Western Wildcats are in a commanding position in the men’s EuroHockey Indoor Club Challenge I in Puconci following four successive wins each.
It gives them an eight-point buffer over their nearest rivals going into the last two rounds of matches.
The Wildcats got the day up and running with a 13-0 success against SLF Mesaicos with Euan Cowan scoring four times in the victory.
Slagelse followed up with an 8-3 win against Cardiff & Met, building a 5-1 lead in first half from which they never looked back. Markus Hansen increased his tournament total to 14 goals in three games with another five in this game.
Three Rock Rovers made it two wins in a row when they fought back from 2-0 down in Q1 and 6-5 with seven minutes to go against Triglav Predanovci to succeed 8-6.
Wildcats preserved their winning run in a nailbiter against HP Valchisone ASD; they were behind on three separate occasions but goals in the last five minutes from Fraser Moran and Luc Hermsen in the last minute recorded a 5-4 win.
Cardiff picked up their second win when they defeated Mesaicos 13-0, lifting them up to 11 points.
The penultimate game of the day was a ding-dong battle as Slagelse and Three Rock were level four times before the Danish side finished stronger. Oliver Sørensen got the key goals in the second half for a 6-4 result.
Valchisone jumped up to third when they concluded the day with a 9-3 win over Triglav Predanovci. It was built around six first half goals, three of them from Alberto Ughetto.
The first two games on Sunday morning could go a long way to deciding who will be promoted; Western face Three Rock first and Slagelse meet Valchisone – should the leading duo win both those games, they will secure promotion for their nation.
EuroHockey Indoor Club Challenge I – day two results
| Teams | Scoreline |
|---|---|
| WILDCATS – MESAICOS | 13 – 0 |
| CARDIFFMET – SLAGELSE | 3 – 8 |
| PREDANOVCI – THREEROCK | 6 – 8 |
| WILDCATS – VALCHISONE | 5 – 4 |
| MESAICOS – CARDIFFMET | 0 – 13 |
| THREEROCK – SLAGELSE | 4 – 6 |
| VALCHISONE – PREDANOVCI | 9 – 3 |
| Rank | Team | Played | Wins | Draws | Losses | Goal Diff | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Slagelse HC (DEN) | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 39 | 20 |
| 2 | Western Wildcats HC (SCO) | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 22 | 20 |
| 3 | HP Valchisone ASD (ITA) | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 19 | 12 |
| 4 | Three Rock Rovers (IRL) | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | -1 | 12 |
| 5 | Cardiff & Met (WAL) | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 11 |
| 6 | HK Triglav Predanovci (SLO) | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | -29 | 1 |
| 7 | SLF Mesaicos (SWE) | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | -59 | 0 |
