20 07 20 08 The biggest sensation during the very fi rst group phase of the EHL can not be attributed to the home team HGC or the other Dutch participant, Rotterdam. These teams make it to the fi rst knockout round without too much trouble. The three foreign teams are really the ones that make a spectacle of the fi rst EHL-weekend. The German team from Crefeld, the English team from Reading and Saint Germain from France end up coming out even in all the group duels they play. Thus at the end of the weekend they all have made the same number of points. Saint Germain wins the group, because they scored the most goals but Crefeld and Reading end up neck and neck. For the fi rst time in the history of hockey shoot-outs are required to determine a winner. This is something that had previously been known only from ice hockey. In the end Reading manages to keep their cool a bit better than their German opponent, allowing them to make it through to the next round. Crefeld is not the only German team that goes down in the group phase during this fi rst season. Club an der Alster also gets stranded in the fi rst round. One week later in Antwerp the Uhlenhorster Hockey Club (UHC), the third German participant, succeeds in making it into the 1/8 fi nals. This isn’t that easy for this top team from Hamburg. In Terrassa the Germans need the extra time in order to shut out the insignifi cant Kelburne team from Scotland. While UHC is just able to avoid a misstep in the last minute, for Bloemendaal the curtain falls in the fi rst knockout round. This team, headed by their star player Teun de Nooijer, is caught off guard by the Spanish Club Egara (3-2). HGC and Rotterdam have a slightly easier time of it. The team from Wassenaar easily wins over Dinamo Kazan (6-1), Rotterdam beats the Waterloo Ducks from Belgium with the same score. That same weekend the quarter fi nals are played and the two remaining Dutch teams show their best sides. HGC gets even with the hosts Terrassa (2-1) and Rotterdam shuts out Reading: 3-2. UHC (with a 2-1 victory over Loughborough Students) and Club Egara (who outclass the French St. Germain with 4-0) complete the last four games of the fi rst EHL. Rotterdam gets to organise the Whitsun-weekend fi nal. It’s already apparent the Dutch will be one of the fi nalists because Rotterdam and HGC are coupled in the semifi nals. The Wassenaar formation quickly gains a 3-0 lead and has to contend with Rotterdam coming close, but they keep their lead during the entire game and fi nish off the closing phase with a 7-4 win. Meanwhile in the other semi-fi nal game Club Egara seems to be bedded on roses with a lead of 2-0 just 22 minutes before the end of the game. But their opponent UHC bounces back in the closing phase and turns it around to a 5-2 victory. The fi nal battle thus turns into a good old-fashioned Dutch-German face off, with HGC enjoying the advantage of being the home team. This advantage does not result in a victory though. The Hamburg team keeps up with HGC for seventy long minutes, which ends the regular playing time with 0-0 on the score board. The extension proves to be decisive. Benjamin Kopp shoots UHC to the fi rst EHL-gold in history. 17 20 07 20 12 FOTO: FRANK UIJLENBROEK The first four seasons
Pagina 18Heeft u een vakblad, noviafacts of e-vaktijdschriften? Gebruik Online Touch: onderwijsmagazine naar een digitale publicatie converteren.
EHL Anniversary Book Lees publicatie 10Home