W1 Compete In Europe Over Easter
By Colin Pike
Surbiton Women face new challenges as they take part in the EuroHockey Club Trophy I in Hamburg over Easter.
After missing out on retaining their Women's Hockey League title last season, Surbiton qualified for the second-tier competition which has a completely different format to the Women's Euro Hockey League tournament which East Grinstead are participating in in Amsterdam this weekend.
Surbiton face four games in four days, competing in three pool games from Good Friday to Easter Sunday, then playing in a classification match on Easter Monday.
Surbiton will play clubs from Scotland and Italy for the first time in European competition as well as meeting Der Club an der Alster from Germany for the first time since 2019.
All of Surbiton's previous European competitions have been in a knockout format, so the format will be a new challenge in addition to meeting clubs from two new countries.
Because the Women's Euro Hockey League and the previous Euro Hockey Club Cup selected teams from countries according to coefficient ratings, Surbiton have never previously had the opportunity to play a Scottish club, but that will change at 1500 CET (1400 GMT) on Friday when they take on Watsonians in their opening Pool B game. Surbiton will then meet der Club an der Alster at 1645 CET (1545 GMT) on Saturday, having previously played them in the quarter-finals of the 2019 Euro Hockey Club Cup in Amstelveen where they lost 4-0 with Lynne Froschle, Anne Schroder, Felicia Wiedermann and Hannah Gablac scoring for the German club.
1645 CET (1545 BST) is also the time when Surbiton play Butterfly Roma of Italy in their final Pool B game on Sunday. Surbiton's opponents and final tournament ranking will be decided on Monday, when they will compete against the corresponding team in Pool A.
The pool winners will play in the final; the pool runners-up will meet for third place; the third-placed teams will play for fifth/ sixth and the fourth-placed teams will aim for a seventh-placed finish overall.
The teams in Pool A are HC Rotweiss Wettingen of Switzerland, KHC Dragons of Belgium, MSC Sumchanka of the Ukraine and SK Slavia Prague of the Czech Republic. With the Women's Euro Hockey League expanding to twelve teams in 2025, Surbiton will want to improve on KHC Dragons' performance as Belgium have the all-important fourth place in the co-efficient rankings to decide which four countries will be able to field four teams in next year's competition.
Only the Euro Hockey League is being streamed on EuroHockey TV, with matches also available on TNT Sports 4 and Discovery +, but Surbiton's progress can be followed in real time via the EHF Altius website here
East Grinstead have a daunting FINAL8 match up with hosts AH&BC Amsterdam at 2000 CET (1900 GMT) on Good Friday. Depending on the result, they will either play in the semi-finals or a ranking match on Easter Sunday.
The Women's Euro Hockey League home page on the EHF Altius website is here
Men's champions, Old Georgians beat Club Campo de Madrid 4-2 in the FINAL8 on Thursday afternoon and will play either Pinoké of the Netherlands in the FINAL4 on Saturday. Pinoké beat Real Club de Polo of Spain 1-0 in the FINAL8 on Thursday evening.
James Carson scored a hat-trick with Alan Forsyth adding the fourth goal in the final minute after Club Campo took off their goalkeeper because they were trailing 3-2.
Club Campo came from 2-0 down to level at 2-2 thanks to goals from Enrique Zorita and Jose Basterra. Club Campo also had two penalty corner goals ruled out after video referrals determining that the injection didn't leave the circle before the goals were scored on both occasions.
Old Georgians had qualified by beating Mannheimer of Germany 5-1 in the KO16 and followed up with a 3-2 win over Belgian club, Waterloo Ducks in KO8 in Barcelona back in October.
The Men's Euro Hockey League FINAL8 home page on the EHF Altius website is here
Finally, Men's Hockey League Premier Division side, Cardiff & Met are representing Wales in the Men's EuroHockey Club Trophy I in Lousada, Portugal. More information about that tournament can be found at the EHF Altius website here