ABN AMRO EHL Men’s GRAND FINAL

Bloemendaal 1 (Teun Beins) Rot-Weiss Köln 0

Bloemendaal became the first ever EHL Men’s club to win the title for three times in succession as they got the better of Rot-Weiss Köln for a second successive season in the GRAND FINAL.

Just Teun Beins’ 21st minute penalty corner stood between the sides at a drenched Wagener Stadium, a big tussle between two top club sides.

Bloemendaal made most of the play in the first half and could have been more than a single goal up but for the genius of Vincent Vanasch. 

As it was, the only goal came after a barrage of penalty corners. From the sixth of them, Tim Swaen flipped the ball behind his back to Teun Beins who whizzed a low shot into the bottom right of the backboard.

Vanasch pulled off a true wonder-save to deny Tom Hiebendaal as the Dutch side attempted to put more daylight between the sides but it remained 1-0.

Rot-Weiss’s first major chance in Q3 when Antheus Barry’s skidding ball across the goal and Maurits Visser did well to react with a diving stick in front of him.

But, as the rain teemed down, it became hard for either side to build up a head of steam with the game becoming a big battle between the 23-metre lines.

As time wore on, Rot-Weiss pushed on harder and harder but the Bloemendaal defence was immaculate, not conceding a single corner in the contest and limiting the Germans only to half-chances.

So Bloemendaal continue their remarkable run of three successive titles – a sixth in total – and an unbeaten run that goes back to 2015 in games they have played in the EHL. For Rot-Weiss, it is a third final defeat in the past four editions.

BRONZE MATCH

Royal Racing Club de Bruxelles 3 (Tanguy Cosyns 3) Atlètic Terrassa 0

A hat trick of penalty corners from Tanguys Cosyns saw Royal Racing Club de Bruxelles win their first ever EHL Men’s medal as they raced away from Atlètic Terrassa.

In a lively first half, Racing made much of the game and has Atlètic scrambling, Pol Cabré-Verdiell clearing off the line amid big pressure. At the other end, Pepe Cunill rattled the crossbar from a corner but the game shifted in two minutes either side of the half-time break.

Cosyns roofed his first of the day in the closing seconds of the first half and then repeated the trick two minutes into the second half with a pair of rockets.

And the result was made extra safe with a third successive corner in the 47th minute, picking the high route to the net once again.

For Racing, it meant a first ever medal in the EHL having come so close in 2014 when they ended in fourth place.