Six different nations will be represented in the KO8 following another cracking day of action in Eindhoven as a sold out, 5,500-strong crowd saw Atlètic Terrassa, Wimbledon, Mannheimer HC and hosts Oranje-Rood advance to the last eight.
Atlètic were the first to advance, beating Lisnagarvey 4-1 with Roc Oliva scoring a hat-trick of penalty corners. He opened the scoring before Sean Murray levelled the game with a smart flick over Marc Calzada’s shoulder.
But a second Oliva drag put the Spanish side back in control in the first quarter and they eventually pulled clear with another corner goal from Marc Bolto and a final Oliva strike.
Wimbledon caused a stir when they had too much in the tank for three-times champion UHC Hamburg 3-1. Phil Roper was the star man, his lovely dummy creating the first goal as he danced away from Nicolas Jacobi before shooting across goal where a defender turned the ball in.
HC Oranje-Rood celebrate Mink van der Weerden’s goal against AH&BC Amsterdam. Pic: Frank Uijlenbroek/EHL
Ben Arnold got the second goal in the second half after Simon Mantell beat a couple of players on the baseline and crossed for 2-0. Julius Schmid gave UHC a lifeline but they were caught without a goalkeeper in the last minute to seal their fate, Roper fittingly scoring the clincher.
The result meant that there will definitely be a new name on the EHL trophy. Oranje-Zwart – the predecessor of HC Oranje Rood – are the only former winner of the title from before their name change.
They kept alive their chances of bringing the Alain Danet trophy back to Eindhoven for a second time when they came from a goal down to beat AH&BC Amsterdam.
Boris Burkhardt’s excellent first goal was counter-acted by a pair of Agustin Mazzilli goals in the 29th minute. He touched home crosses from Rob van der Horst and Bob de Voogd to swap the lead at half-time. Mink van der Weerden powered home a drag-flick for 3-1 before Justin Reid-Ross did the same to reduce the gap but Oranje-Rood held on for a famous win.
It means they will play Atlètic Terrassa in the KO8 on Monday (15.30 CET) with a ticket to the FINAL4 on the line.
Mannheimer completed the KO8 line-up courtesy of Felix Schües winning goal against Club Egara, making it 2-1 with four minutes to go. Guido Barreiros had given the German side the lead early on only for Egara to level the game with nine minutes left via Pau Quemada.
But Schües popped up with the winner in the closing minutes to give Mannheimer their first ever win in the knock-out stages of the EHL. They will play Wimbledon in the KO8 with both sides contesting this stage of the EHL for the first time. They meet on Monday at (13.15 CET).
Easter Sunday sees the start of the KO8 stages with KHC Dragons meeting Racing Club de France with the hosts hoping their can secure a ticket to the FINAL4 where they will be on home turf. For Racing, no French club has ever reached the FINAL4 and this will be a big motivation for their game which gets underway at 12.15 (CET).
The second game sees Germany’s leaders Rot-Weiss Koln facing Real Club de Polo, the Spanish champions, in a potential fire-cracker of a game. They take the field at 14.30 (CET).
EHL 2016-2017 KO16 and KO8 match schedule 14-17 April 2017 at HC Oranje-Rood, Eindhoven (NED)
Friday 14 April
M1: Banbridge HC 1 (M Allister) Racing Club de France 1 C Peters-Deutz), Racing win 3-0 on shoot-out
M2: WKS Grunwald Poznan 0 Real Club de Polo 6 (A Casasayas 3, D Alegre 2, A Reyne)
M3: KHC Dragons 2 (T Verheijen, T Briels) Royal Racing Club de Bruxelles 1 (J Truyens)
M4: SV Kampong 1 (Q Caspers) KHTC Rot-Weiss Koln 2 (M Grambusch, J Gomoll)
Saturday 15 April
M5: Atletic Terrassa 4 (R Oliva 3, M Bolto) Lisnagarvey HC 1 (S Murray)
M6: Wimbledon 3 (P Roper 2, B Arnold) UHC Hamburg 1 (J Schmid)
M7: HC Oranje-Rood 3 (A Mazzilli 2, M van der Weerden) AHBC Amsterdam 2 (B Burkhardt, J Reid-Ross)
M8: Mannheimer HC 2 (G Barreiros, F Schües) Club Egara 1 (P Quemada)
Sunday 16 April
M9 12.15h KHC Dragons vs Racing Club de France
M10 14.30h Real Club de Polo vs KHTC Rot-Weiss Köln
Monday 17 April
M11 13.15h Wimbledon vs Mannheimer HC
M12 15.30h HC Oranje-Rood vs Atletic Terrassa
Event website: http://ehlhockey.tv/
Match schedule: http://ehlhockey.tv/season/20162017/
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