62 Belgium. From the perspective of this background, Delmee states that Belgian hockey is profi ting strongly from the establishment of the EHL. “The more often Belgian hockey players can play in toplevel international games, the more they can develop their profi ciency. Playing hockey in the EHL is in any case a completely different ball game than playing in the Belgian main class. The level is improving by leaps and bounds. The Belgians will go to the Olympics this year for second time in a row and they have qualifi ed for the next Champions Trophy. There has clearly been progress made on club level as well. KHC Dragons last year made it to the fi nal of the EHL and this season they won 5-4 in the fi rst round over Rotterdam. These are impressive performances. Hockey enjoys a great deal of support within the Dragons club as well. Last autumn, the club organized the fi rst round of the EHL. The public showed great enthusiasm and the organisation of the event was super.” Sparring with the top teams Delmee believes the Dragons are quite capable of a sporting surprise this season as well. The Belgians, who will fi rst face the comparatively ‘easy’ Dinamo Elektrostal from Russia in Rotterdam, have a wellbalanced team. “The Dragons have a good mix of former internationals, current internationals and youthful talent from Young Belgium. Take Florent van Aubel. He was nominated by the World Hockey Federation as the greatest international hockey talent of 2011. That counts for something.” Rotterdam-striker Jeroen Hertzberger surprisingly lost against the ‘draconian’ Belgians last autumn. Luckily for him and his team, this was in the group phase and before the knockout duels. “In the EHL you notice the so-called weaker countries and teams are catching on more and more”, says Hertzberger. “It used to be the case that teams outside the top level countries were quickly disqualifi ed. That doesn’t happen much anymore. Now they have the Inventor of the drag fl ick, Taco van den Honert, now coaches Amsterdam H&BC. From the 1/8 fi nals on, the pressure is on full blast TACO VAN DEN HONERT FOTO: FRANK UIJLENBROEK Pagina 61
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