Pembroke Wanderers will hope they can put home advantage to the best possible use as they seek to emulate Glenanne’s thrilling performances at the EuroHockey Club Trophy this weekend.
Serpentine Avenue plays host to club hockey’s second biggest competition with eight of Europe’s finest with Pembroke going into the competition with a full bill of health.
Conor Harte (pictured, below right) came through two of Ireland A’s games this week unscathed. He was required to take part in the Irish squad as college commitments mean he cannot travel to Alicante with the rest of the senior panel, meaning his involvement for the A panel was a necessity. He will hope to feel no ill effects from potentially six games in seven days.
Pembroke come into the tournament in top form, with top umpire Andy Groves – who officiated last Saturday – saying the win over Annadale was “the best I’ve ever seen them play”.
Coach Craig Fulton, though, was anxious not to overplay the importance of that one-off game. “I thought we played well, don’t get me wrong, but we had to get a result so that put our back against the wall.
“Also, the rules are different for this weekend. That’s the mad thing about this season with one competition going one way and another with another set of rules. We love to play the auto-pass all the time, it suits our style but we obviously have to change it up for four games in a row.”
This tournament does not employ the auto-pass and the rapid-fire nature of the games me
ans that playing at the incredible pace Pembroke showed last week may not be the best strategy.
Indeed, Fulton expects opposition to try and play a more stop-start brand of hockey: “I expect a lot of half-court, European sides, and a lot of counter-attack so it will be slow to quick."
Pembroke are drawn in a group with Ukraine’s Dinamo Olimpik VSM, Austria’s Akademischer HTC Wien and Belarussians SC Stroitel Brest and while Pembroke have encountered some of these sides on previous European trips, Fulton admits that it is hard to know too much about the opposition:“I know a little bit about a few teams but whether the teams have changed or got injuries, who knows? The first few days will tell a lot. We will have to make quick adjustments as we go anyway.”
There is also the added incentive that should Pembroke, in conjunction with Three Rock’s EHL result, do well they can gain a second EuroHockey League place for Ireland.
For the club as a whole – and indeed Leinster hockey – it promises to be quite an event with a series of social activities running in conjunction with the event. Tickets are just €5 per day or €15 for the tournament.
Pool A:
Dinamo Elektrostal (RUS), AHC Suelli (ITA), HC Rotweiss Wettingen (SUI), HAHK Mladost (CRO)
Pool B:
Pembroke Wanderers HC (IRL), Dinamo Olimpik VSM (UKR), Akademischer HTC Wien (AUT), SC Stroitel Brest (BLR)
Match Schedule:
Friday, April 10
10am Dinamo Elektrostal v HAHK Mladost; 12.00pm, AHC Suelli v HC Rotweiss Wettingen; 2pm, Dinamo Olimpik VSM v Akademischer HTC Wien; 4pm, Pembroke Wanderers v SC Stroitel Brest
Saturday, April 11
10am Dinamo Elektrostal v HC Rotweiss Wettingen; 12pm AHC Suelli v HAHK Mladost; 2pm, Dinamo Olimpik VSM v SC Stroitel Brest ; 4pm, Pembroke Wanderers v Akademischer HTC Wien
Sunday, April 12
10am, HC Rotweiss Wettingen v HAHK Mladost; 12pm Dinamo Elektrostal v AHC Suelli; 2pm Akademischer HTC Wien v SC Stroitel Brest; 4pm Pembroke Wanderers v Dinamo Olimpik VSM
Monday, April 13
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21 comments:
Pembroke need to finish ahead of the Russians in order for Ireland to overtake both Scotland and Russia in the Club Rankings and elavate us from 10th to 8th place which would secure two EHL places for next season!!
remember pembroke won this tournament in Prague may 2 years ago so they have emulated Glenannes win last year already!!
um, not to be too pernickety but this cup has only existed for one season and the glens are the only ever winners.
pembroke won in the old format... great acheivement but different competition.
Great if we can get two teams in EHL next year. I presume if this happens the finalists of the IHL will represent Ireland.
Steve can you confrim this?
That will be so great for Irish Hockey!
I will post a fuller post about this later but I was furnished with the information earlier today about EHL places - should that occur.
One will go to the IHL winner and one to the ISC winner. If the same team wins both, the runner-up in the IHL takes the second spot.
The IHA need to convene a meeting of the Competitions Committee and look into our nomination process for Europe...
If we upgrade our EuroTrophy place to another EHL place, I think we also need to amend how we decide who would represent Ireland in the EHL and not keep the status quo.
The whole point of IHL was that it was directly modelled on EHL: 4 quarters; auto-pass; green-card suspension etc... The Irish Senior Cup on the other hand isn't.
The path to reach an IHL final is far more demanding and testing than the path to reach an ISC final also.
I presume the IHA are going to look into this though.
I understand in the current situation it is correct but if we have 2 teams in the EHL surely this has to change.
I dont think you can get into the champions league in football from a cup competition....
where are the ehl rankings...cant find them on the ehl site
Take away the incentive of a european place and whats the point of going all out to win the ISC. By taking this away teams will lessen the importance placed on the ISC games and the tradition of the cup will be ruined.
well, they've made a new showpiece event which had already reduced the importance of the isc. indeed, some coaches i spoke to were not too displeased to get knocked out as it was an extra burden of games.
while i hate this constant analogy of football, but it is like th FA Cup. no one cares about it too much anymore. the memories are great but tis time to move on
bull...ISC is still hugely important and any coaches who said they were pleased to be knocked out were out and out liars
nicely misinterpreted there, it does not say they were pleased to be knocked out.
all coaches wil set their team up to win, the comment merely suggests that the blow of losing is more cushioned now due to the crazy fixture schedule that exists
Best of luck Pembroke. Hope you get the points we need for 2 IHL places.
ISC will never loose its appeal, regardless of european place, it has great tradition and is a very special cup to win. The point here is we may have 2 places in the best club league in the world. I would only imagine that the IHA want to send the best teams to this league. I think it is clear that these teams are the finalists of the IHL.
This does worry me for the future of the IHL. The clubs, teams,the players, the IHA included are putting a lot of effort and money into the IHL. They should do it justice and consider changing their stance!
Are we going to make professional steps to compete on the european stage or will we go with tradition...
It will be interesting to see how the IHA handle this, it will give us a really good idea how they intend to move the sport forward.
I think everyone would agree that the IHL has been super and has taken the level in Ireland one step on. I really hope they make the right call, It time to keep this sport moving forward!!
It appears we can always rely on IHA to make a complete hames of qualifying teams for EHL.If we have two teams qualified they MUST come from the qualifiying competition,the IHL.Any other decision makes no sense.If Cookstown win ISC how can they be asked to represent IHA wnen they did not qualify for IHL playoffs.All teams taking part in IHL understood two finalists in IHL playoffs would qualify if we had two teams in EHL.ISC is different competition,different format.If this goes ahead next season we could have a team playing in EHL who doesnt even qualify for IHL.
Another Irish solution to an Irish problem.What a laughing stock we are.
Totally agree with the comments above. Cup competitions are great but what makes them great is the potential for shocks, upsets and surprise winners. Add this to the fact that they don't play the EHL/IHL rules in the competition and it is baffling how ANYONE could think this is a logical path to Europes premier Hockey "LEAGUE".
Different clubs are forced into prioritising different tournaments due to the amount of hockey played at the moment. One sticky away fixture and a few injuries and your EHL dreams are over.
I'm a junior player, but I take immense pride in the way our top clubs are representing us on the world stage. The IHA need to review this situation immediately....
Best of luck to Pembroke today!!!
better all get down and support pembroke in the final then if you want the best team representing ire in the EHL!
i think its only fair
ISC winner = european place
IHL winner = european place
ISC has always been, that if u win it, you can go to europe. so what if its in the EHL, maybe teams will fight a bit more in it.. im all for it..
good luck to pem!
I dont understand what all the whinging is about when we haven't even been assured of the 2 EHL places. Lets just see how Rovers and Pembroke get on over the wknd and then you can either whinge or say nothing. (if we dont get the 2nd EHL spot!!)
Interesting points here...essentially I totally agree with the majority.
EHL is the next level, in theory a team not in the IHL semi's or maybe not even in the IHL or maybe even from division 2 could possibly represent Ireland in the Leagues winners tournament of europe...something wrong.
We all know what cups are great for, but we really need to be professional to get Irish hockey into the top flights of Europe!
If we do get 2 places we all should make sure we keep them...
Best of luck to Pembroke and TRR!
Every should make the effort to get down for at least one game...
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