Pinoké earn euro indoor promotion

Pinoké’s men enjoyed their second European tournament of the season as they earned the Netherlands promotion to the top tier of indoor club hockey for 2024 with a second place finish in Mannheim.

It came at a high quality EuroHockey Indoor Trophy tournament as the EHL FINAL8 hosts swept through the group stages with wins over Luzerner SC, Three Rock Rovers and Slavia Prague in the group stages.

That put them through to the promotion pool where they hit their only stumbling block, falling 9-5 to the German host club, Mannheimer HC.

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Noud Schoenaker, Joppe Stapenbelt and Morris de Vilder helped keep it tight in the first half, trailing 5-4, and it was 6-5 at the end of Q3 courtesy of a Miles Bukkens goal.

But the Germans ran out strong winners with three late goals for a key result which ultimately saw them win the title.

It left Pinoké needing a win against OKS SHVSM Vinnitsa from Ukraine on Sunday. In a close affair, the Dutch club edged in front 2-1 at half-time before making the result safe in the last quarter via Jannis van Hattum and de Vilder.

Bukkens ended up as his side’s top scorer in the tournament with nine goals.HDM will reap the benefits of Pinoké’s drive for action next season. The residents of The Hague became champions at the expense of Amsterdam at the end of January. 

Mannheim won the event, scoring 58 goals in five games, with a perfect set of five wins with Tim Seagon netting 17 times. 

The top tier of men’s competition was cancelled due to the impact of the recent earthquake in Türkiye.

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