Three Rock ended their European adventure in sixth place out of six in Bologna last weekend as they struggled to convert decent positions into points earned, ending with just one point from their five games. They opened the weekend brightly, taking a 1-0 first half lead against hosts CUS Bologna through Peter McConnell.
But the class of Russian international Sergey Stasyuk eventually told and he netted a second half hat-trick to get the Italians off to the perfect start, a passage that ultimately led to promotion to the second tier of European indoor hockey.
Croatian side HK Jedinstovo, inspired by five goals from Rebic, ran up a 7-3 win though just one goal separated the sides at the 25 minute mark following Sven Galjaardt and Garry Ringwood goals. But four goals in quick succession left Rovers virtually dead and buried in the tournament and, with relegation not a factor, just pride was left to play for.
Peter Blakeney's double put the Dubliners on the brink of a point against eventual winners Stroitel Brest only for Siarhei Mishevich to pot a last minute field goal for a 3-2 win.
And a similar scenario occurred against Pliva Lipovci in Saturday's second game as no sooner had Pierre de Voux tied the game up at 3-3 in the game's dying stages than Robert Mesaric popped up with a winner for the Slovenians.
But they eventually got off the mark on Sunday morning, picking up an unlikely draw against Hungary's Epitok. Unlikely as they trailed 5-0 after 15 minutes only to roar back into contention with de Voux grabbing a pair, Galjaardt on target and Blakeney scoring his sixth and seventh goals of the competition.
EuroHockey Indoor Club Champion’s Challenge:
Friday: TRR 1 (Peter McConnell) CUS Bologna 4; TRR 3 (Peter Blakeney, Garry Ringwood, Sven Galjaardt) HK Jedinstovo 7
Saturday: TRR 2 (Peter Blakeney 2) SC Stroitel Brest 3; TRR 3 (Peter Blakeney, Sven Galjaardt, Pierre de Voux) Pliva Lipovci 4
Sunday: TRR 5 (Pierre de Voux 2, Peter Blakeney 2, Sven Galjaardt) Epitok 5
Final standings:
1. Stroitel Brest 13pts (+11) 2. CUS Bologna 13pts (+10) 3. Epitok 7pts (-6) 4. Pliva Lipovci 6pts (-3) 5. HK Jedinstovo 3pts (-3) 6. TRR 1pt (-9)
9 comments:
Very poor performance!
Oh please stop with your complaining! What do you expect we dont even have a league just a mickey mouse cup competition which people dont really take that seriously.
Ex. Monkstown! If they really cared they wouldnt get the time wrong!
To compete in europe we need a Indoor League running alongside the outdoor main stream.
I believe there was one in st andrews on thursday night. Why not bring that back.
PWHC Player!
Very Poor Performance? It is a credit to Rovers and all the other Irish sides that have represented IRL in this competition over the last number of years.
I doubt any other Irish team would have faired much better as nearly all the other European teams are playing indoor leagues regularly and training regularly.
Congrats to Rovers on the effort. Hard luck on some of the results.
Ireland have consistently finished in 6th place at the Challenge I level indoor tournament over the last few years.... so nothing surprising here and indeed fair play to Rovers for maintaining the status quo (aided no doubt by the Turks and Serbs who withdrew)
Disappointing, I'm sure, not to have come out the other side of some of the 1-goal defeats but really Challenge I is the level we're at unless we take a full and proper Winter Break and inaugurate an Indoor League
Questo and PWHC player you have got it in one but i dont think a winter break is needed. You could have indoor weekends (sunday) Between November and february!
or would that be too much hockey?
I really am getting tired of those people on this blog who leave comments like "poor proformance" i feel that is distructive and has a complete lack of respect for the teams which represent Irl.
Monkstown Hockey Club Member.
Questo and PWHC player you have got it in one but i dont think a winter break is needed. You could have indoor weekends (sunday) Between November and february!
or would that be too much hockey?
I really am getting tired of those people on this blog who leave comments like "poor proformance" i feel that is distructive and has a complete lack of respect for the teams which represent Irl.
Monkstown Hockey Club Member.
Get real, it is a poor performance. You want yo give credits to a team who lost all their matches. That doesn't make sense.
Is it typically Irish hockey to look for excuses all the time?
We never stood a chance in the indoor. We dont take indoor hockey seriously so why should be do well.
We dont even have a national side. Buddy yes they are excuses but I think they are valid ones.
Yes your right its not acceptable but just leaving distructive comments like Very Poor performance does nothing!!! Maybe you should stop leaving these kind of comments and do something about it!!!
So the conclusion is Rovers did well?
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