The EHL will come to the Aalsterweg in Eindhoven for the fifth time next month, a venue synonymous with famous EHL contests but also a mirror to the evolving nature of the club from Zwart to Rood.
Here’s a quick look back on some of those memorable occasions.
EHL ROUND1 – October 2010
The first visit to Aalsterweg served up a series of thrillers saw Oranje-Zwart debut in the EHL in impressive fashion with Lucas Judge scoring six times across a 10-1 win over KS Pomorzanin Torun and 7-2 versus Dinamo Kazan. There were also the first four goals of Mink van der Weerden’s EHL career; OZ went on to finish fourth.
The marquee group was a bumper Pool B in which Club de Campo – eventual finalists – and Rot-Weiss Köln came out on top ahead of Racing Club de Bruxelles with 19 goals scored across their three games.
EHL KO16 & FINAL4 – April 2014
A week-long extravaganza in Eindhoven and the last time before Oranje-Zwart became Oranje-Rood with the old clubhouse soon replaced by the state-of-the-art setup that exists today soon to be built.
A spectacular week almost saw the home club win their first EHL title but a Michael Köprer-inspired Harvestehuder THC spoiled the party in a GRAND FINAL shoot-out after an epic 2-2 showdown in normal time.
It was the first time a club had hosted both the KO16 and FINAL4 back-to-back with huge crowds embracing the closing stages of the competition.
EHL KO16 – April 2017
A new dawn as Oranje-Rood’s revamped home held the four-day KO16 event where the hosts were inspired to big wins over AH&BC Amsterdam (3-2) and Atlètic Terrassa (2-0) as Agustin Mazzilli and Robert van der Horst lit up the weekend.
Indeed, they were the only Dutch side to survive a cracking weekend where Rot-Weiss Köln were the other star turns, beating SV Kampong and Real Club de Polo en route to becoming the champions in Brasschaat a month later.
EHL KO16 & FINAL4 – April 2019
It was the Waterloo Ducks week as they became the first Belgian club to win the EHL, doing so courtesy of three shoot-out wins in succession before prevailing 4-0 in the GRAND FINAL – the equal-biggest winning margin in the men’s competition – against Rot-Weiss Köln.
For the hosts, their journey was ended early by the Timm Herzbruch after-burners in a 3-2 KO16 win for Uhlenhorst Mülheim. The tournament also proved the last EHL outing for the iconic Bob de Voogd, van der Horst and Thomas Briels.
