Final Pool Day at the EuroHockey Trophy and Challenges, Men

Sunday 8th June was a very important day at all the Tournaments as ultimately the results it will determine the rankings of the A and B Pools and the classification games tomorrow, who will be promoted or perhaps earn the points to get their country the prized golden ticket into the EHL and who will be on the end of the relegation battles.
EuroHockey Club Trophy, Cagliari, Men
Day 2 of the Eurohockey Club Champions Trophy was another beautiful sunny day in Cagliari with temperatures tipping 30 degrees and it saw the game of the tournament so far between Monkstown and ATA Sport. It was a very close encounter with neither team giving anything away. ATA Sport took an early lead through the excellent skills of Zai and despite pushing for a second Monkstown equalised in 12minute from a Cole corner. The game continued with highly entertaining and end to end hockey Monkstown took the lead from a ferocious Watkins strike in the 21st minute.
The second half resumed with ATA Sport pushing to get back in the game and in the 62nd Minute Ali equalised from a well executed corner, with ATA Sport needing a win to go in to the final they pushed for the decisive goal only for Sykes to snatch the victory with a decisive corner in the 67th minute making it 3 – 2 to Monkstown who now progress to the final.
Game 2 saw Bra of Italy play AHTC of Austria on what was a very tense affair. AHTC took the lead in the 13th minute from a well taken goal from Monghy in the 13th minute.
The second saw BRA come out the stronger scoring three goals in to take the lead 3- 1, Weyers struck back in the 64th minute to make a very tense last 5 minutes as AHTC pushed for the equaliser but failed to capitalise on their opportunities and the final score saw BRA winning 3-2.
The first pool A game same Grange of Scotland and Whitchurch of Wales contest their final Pool A game, Grange started very impressively and with 4 goals in the first half the game was put beyond Whitchurch. In the second half Whitchurch pushed to get back into the game but could not break down the Grange defence and the game finished 4 -0 to Grange.
In the final game of the day this saw the home side of Amsicora pitted against the Ukrainian champions OKS, this again was a very competitive and Amsicora took an early lead through another excellent Carta penalty corner. The game continued to be a very tight affair with both sides failing to convert their chances.
The second half saw Oks pushing for the equaliser and finally in the 42nd minute via a Polischuk goal they clawed their way back into the game and with continued pressure scored two further goals to make it 1-3. Amsicora scored a late goal from Agabio to make it a tense finish but OKS hung on for a well deserved victory.
Sunday 8th June 2014
11:00B Monkstown HC – Atasport 3-2 (2-1)
13:00B HC Bra – Navax AHTC Wien 3-2 (0-1)
15:00A Grange HC – Whitchurch HC 4-0 (4-0)
17:00A S.G. Amsicora ASD – HC OKS-SHVSM 2-4 (1-0)
Final Day – Monday 9th June 2014
08:30 7/8 4A Whitchurch HC – Navax AHTC Wien 4B
10:45 5/6 3A Grange HC – HC Bra 3B
13:00 3/4 2A S.G. Amsicora ASD – Atasport 2B
15:15 FINAL 1A HC OKS-SHVSM – Monkstown HC 1B
EuroHockey Club Challenge I, Men, Rakovnik
Banbridge HC showed some real class as they have grown from strength to strength over the 3 days, an emphatic win of 7-0 over Mladost and they took the 5 points to end up top of Pool A. Slavia’s captain David Vacek scored 4 of the 7 goals v Grammarians and a second place in the Pool A and a game v Rotweiss Wettingen for a chance of promotion to the Trophy in 2015. Banbridge had to await the outcome of the final game in Pool B to see what Monday’s line up would be and it was a closely contested game from the start, with both teams exchanging the lead. Akkord were the eventual winners with a goal courtesy of a stroke in the 63rd minute clinched the victory for the Azeri team.
Sunday 8th June 2014
13:00A Banbridge HC – HAHK Mladost 7-0 (4-0)
15:00A Grammarians HC – SK Slavia Praha 0-6 (0-2)
17:00B Akkord HC – HC 1972 Rakovnik 5-4 (1-2)
Final Day – Monday 9th June 2014
09:00 4A Grammarians HC – HC 1972 Rakovnik 3B
11:30 2A SK Slavia Praha – HC Rotweiss Wettingen 1B
14:00 1A Banbridge HC – Akkord HC 2B
EuroHockey Club Challenge II, Men, Slagelse
Sunday was decision day in both pools. In pool A, SK Senkvice sent HC Gomel to relegation on Monday morning, with a last minute goal from a penalty corner. In the second game of Pool A, Eagles HC now neeeded a victory with an eight goal difference against Partille SC and it looked for a while, like they were in for a true miracle as they lead 3-0 at half time. In the end, the brave Gibraltarians won only 4-2 as the Swedes could get more control on the game and took the second spot in the play-ups. The match to find a winner in pool B was an extremely close affair between Luzerner SC and Gaziantep Polisgucu. The Swiss managed to remain undaunted by the Turkish counterattacks and scored themselves with 15 minutes left on the clock.
Click here for a full gallery of photographs
Sunday 8th June 2014
11:00A HC Gomel – SK Senkvice 0-1 (0-0)
13:00A Eagles HC – Partille SC 4-2 (3-0)
15:00B Luzerner SC – Gaziantep Polisgucu SK 1-0 (0-0)
Final Day – Monday 9th June 2014
09:00 4A HC Gomel – Soerbymagle HK 3B
11:15 2A Partille SC – Luzerner SC 1B
13:30 1A SK Senkvice – Gaziantep Polisgucu SK 2B
EuroHockey Club Challenge III, Men, Bratislava
Some high scoring games in Bratislava as teams wanted to ensure maximum points in this round of games. AD Lousada started their mission to top Pool A and did so with a comfortable win over Ardas 4-0. The finished with the maximum 15 points. Slagelse knew that they needed a big win to guarantee a slot in the promotional games on Monday, and set a big score of 11-1 v Epitok, leaving Raca with a mountain to climb to claim the top slot… They also had a big scoring game of 8-0 v Jedinstvo but was short of the larger target to take top slot and have the harder job of toppling Lousada now tomorrow.
Photograph galleries:

Sunday 8th June 2014
11:00A AD Lousada – Ardas-Rudamina 4-0 (1-0)
13:00A HK Triglav Predanovci – HC NSA Sofia 1-10 (1-5)
15:00B Epitok Hockey Club – Slagelse HC 1-11 (0-3)
17:00B KPH Raca – HK Jedinstvo 8-0 (2-0)
Final Day – Monday 9th June 2014
08:30 4A Ardas-Rudamina – HK Jedinstvo 3B
10:45 3A HK Triglav Predanovci – Epitok Hockey Club 4B
13:00 2A HC NSA Sofia – Slagelse HC 1B
15:15 1A AD Lousada – KPH Raca 2B
EuroHockey Club Challenge IV, Men, Kordin
The first game of today Floriana Young Stars vs Inta-Baltic Champignons shows a domination from Floriana Young Stars throughout the game but did not manage to get the win at the very last moment. End result 2:3 in favour of the Lithuanian, which means that Inta-Baltic Champignons was placed first in pool A. With regard the second game Kringsja vs Qormi, the local team of Qormi confirmed its good performance showed on the previous day, winning the game by 3:0. Tomorrow, the teams of Seinajoki United (FIN) will play against Olcote HC (HUN) for the 5th / 6th place, which then will be followed by the Derby game between the two Maltese teams of Floriana Young Stars and Qormi HC, followed by Inta-Baltic Champignons (LTU) vs Kringsja SK (NOR). The latter two winners will go up to the Challenge III next year.
Sunday 8th June 2014
14:00A Floriana Young Stars – Inta-Baltic Champignons 2-3 (1-1)
16:00B Kringsja HC – Qormi HC 0-3 (0-1)
Final Day – Monday 9th June 2014
12:00 3A Seinajoki United – Olcote HC 3B
14:15 2A Floriana Young Stars – Qormi HC 1B
16:30 1A Inta-Baltic Champignons – Kringsja HC 2B