The best 16 teams in Europe gather in a little place called Bloemendaal, Amsterdam, this weekend to slog it out for the EHL trophy. We are one of these teams.

Follow every minute of action on the EHL website

Pedigree, courage, skill, effort, and character. We’ll need all of these on Friday. The good thing is that we have them all in abundance! It’s a must win game and so is the quarter-final.
Underdogs? Yes. Tall order? Yes. Fear? Hell no. Let’s enjoy being on centre stage as a club in Europe’s elite competition and rocking the boat!!
Hope to see an awful lot of you there in Purple. We may even switch to “Ireland’s” Green for the Glens match later the same day.
Mens 1st XI

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EHL KO16
22nd – 25th April 2011 in Bloemendaal, The Netherlands.
Friday 22nd Pembroke Wanderers v Club de Campo, 12.00

Pembroke are playing at 12.00 against Club de Campo from Spain (see full schedule below). This is a wonderfull opportunity to see four days of top class hockey and of course our main purpose to travel is to support our Men’s 1st Team squad.

The Hotel we have selected is the Van der Valk Hotel Haarlem – Zuid which is one of the official EHL Team Hotels. Bloemendaal Hockey Club is not a convenient place to get to so hopefully we may be able to get some seats on the the Team buses.
The following are the prices which include breakfast and local taxes.

Triple Room €56 per person per night.
Twin Room €69 per person per night.
Single Room €125 per person per night.

A provisional booking has been made but we will need to firm up numbers asap. so I would appreciate if you would email me your requirements.

As in previous tournaments we are leaving the flight arrangements to you so as it’s at Easter the prices will go up the nearer we get to the date.

The EHL – What’s it all about?

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Qualification was secured when the Ukrainians were hammered 9-2 and failed to take any points from HGC on Saturday. In yesterday’s final group game many wouldn’t have given the lads a chance against a hugely experienced and successful dutch HGC side, but Pembroke fought back from 3-0 down to take a bonus point from the 4-2 defeat. Craig Wilson got the vital second goal to give Pembroke their best ever tally from the Group stages in EHL competition. A great fightback again, this time against the 2008 EHL finalists. Getting to the last 16 is a huge achievement for Irish hockey and Pembroke Wanderers – the Club are very proud of the lads achievements so far this season. Well done fellas you have deserved it.

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Pembroke had enjoyed a dream start, taking an early 2-0 lead through Craig Wilson’s deflected short corner followed up by a sliding finish from Paddy Good after great work down the wing from Mick O’ Connor.

Click above for the official EHL match report

However with just 6 minutes remaining on the clock Pembroke were 3-2 down, having earlier let the Ukrainians back into the tie with goals either side of half time, but amazingly the lads still found time to take the win and the full 5 points. Brandon Panther was chief architect of the fight-back, from a Penalty Corner he dodged the first runner and slapped home passed the advancing Ukrainian keeper. Queue massive relief for the Pembroke supporters, who probably would have settled for a draw at that point.

But with 3 minutes to go Panther wasn’t finished yet, taking the ball cooly on his reverse he smashed in from near the edge of the D. There was no time for a response from the Ukrainians and Pembroke now take pole position in the group ahead of their tie on Sunday against dutch outfit HGC.

The Ukrainians on the other hand will need to pull off a major upset against the Dutch favourites tomorrow, if they fail to win Pembroke take one of the two spots up for grabs to go through to last 16 and importantly secure Ireland vital raking points for next season’s competition.

Pool F remaining fixtures All times Irish
Sat 16th Olympia Kolos Sekvoia v HGC, 13:30
Sun 17th HGC v Pembroke Wanderers 11.00

All matches can be watched LIVE online on the official EHL website or on Eurosport.

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Pembroke celebrate a goal against Cork Harlequins in the IHL last weekend. Photo Eleni Henry

Click above to download the official EHL Round 1.1 Program

Only two sides will go through to the KO16s’ – the match against the Ukrainians on Friday morning will prove to be the pivotal fixture. HGC are a top dutch side and were finalists in the first EHL competition back in 2008, indeed they are a side littered with full internationals and several dutch U21 internationals.

Like Pembroke, the Ukrainian side are national champions, with plenty of experience amongst their many Ukrainian internationals. Pembroke have enjoyed a good build up to the tournament though, following wins over Three Rock and Cork Harlequins. A great display away to Glenanne two weeks ago should also stand to the lads.

Pembroke Wanderers
Karl Lynch, Ronan Flannery, Ken Treacy, Alan Giles, Gowan Jones, Brandon Panther, Jethro Eustice, Paddy Conlon, Keith Crawford, Paddy Good, Maurice Elliot, Mick O’ Connor, Simon Thornton, Craig Wilson, Scott Furlong. Coach Brendon Carolan

Weekend Details (all times Irish)
Friday 15th Oct Pembroke Wanderers (IRL) v Olympia Kolos Sekvoia (UKR) 08.30
Sunday 17th Oct HGC(Hol) v Pembroke Wanderers (IRL) 11.00

Preview of HGC’s competition prospects here.

Wish the lads well on our Club Facebook page.

Matches take place at Oranje Zwart HC, Eindhoven – get travel info here

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Only the top two in each Pool go through to the last 16 of the competition – Pembroke beat Scottish outfit Kelbourne to advance to the EHL KO16 stage last year, this time a tricky fixture against the Ukranians should prove to be the decisive fixture – Paddy Good sensibly warning ‘there are no easy fixtures at this level’.

HGC will prove to be tough opponents and have vast experience in the competition – finishing runners up back in 2008. The dutch side from The Hague finished runners up in the dutch Hoofdklasse league in the season just gone to qualify and have clear pedigree. Round 1.1 of the EHL will be hosted by Oranje Zwart of Eindhoven, who along with HGC and HC Bloemendaal complete a trio of dutch teams in this year’s competition.

In the other half of the draw Glenanne have been drawn to play WKS Grunwald Poznan of Poland, and formidable Mannheimer HC of Germany, Round 1.2 taking place in Barcelona from Oct 29th. Full details are on the official EHL website.

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Photos: Adrian Boehm

Winning the IHL means Pembroke will join Glenanne in next season’s EHL as the top seeded Club. The final lacked the drama and contraversy from yesterday’s games but Pembroke were deserving winners on the day.

Full reports…

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The lads were this evening knocked out of the EHL by a much fancied Rot Weiss Koln side who now go on to meet Barcelona in the Qtr Finals on Sunday. For Pembroke it will be along trek back to Dublin, but they can be proud of the way they played here today, without fear and full of confidence from the off.

Facing a side fielding 8 German internationals with Beijing Olympic Gold medals in their trophy cabinets was always going to be a tough assignment but Koln never really looked like racing away with the game – their third goal with 2 minutes to go came from was a Christian Zeller penalty stroke following a contraversial sequence of play where Pembroke felt they should have been awarded a corner themselves.

It was the younger Zeller brother who opened the scoring from a short corner breakdown – despite 2 point blank saves Conor Harte was left helpless as P Zeller roofed the ball from a narrow angle.

Harte went on to have a superb game, and was deservedly rewarded Man of the Match by sponsors ABN AMRO.

Rotterdam KO16 Roundup

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The Lads face Rot-Weiss Koln of Germany on Good Friday, 5pm local time. The Germans contain 8 of the international side who won Olympic gold in Beijing two years ago. If they come through this mammoth challenge they will face either RC Polo Barcelona or Reading HC on Easter Sunday @12 midday.

The tournament finals are being staged again in HC Rotterdam and it will be a fantastic weekend of action.

Go here for more on the EHL, and Pembroke’s journey to the KO16
Go here for the EHL official website – and live coverage from Pembroke v Rot-Weiss Koln
Go here for The Irish Times match preview.

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Hotel
The team and supporters will be staying in the Novotel Brainpark Hotel in Rotterdam at a cost of €97 for a Double/Twin Room and €87 for a single Room. Breakfast is included in these prices. The web address is here
There is a bus stop outside the door and the public transport leaves you with a 10/15 Min walk to the grounds. We are hopefull of being able to arrange for a bus to bring us to the grounds in the morning and return in the evening at a nominal cost.

We have made a provisional booking in the hotel for the supporters and we now need confirmation from those who have already communicated their intention to travel and for those who have not as yet. Please also confirm the nights you intend to stay.

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Flights
Supporters we would ask you to make your own transport arrangements. The two main routes are Aer Lingus – Dublin to Amsterdam and get the train in the airport to Rotterdam or Ryanair to Eindhoven – a bus into the town and then a train to Rotterdam.

We hope as many as can will travel to support our team in it’s first qualification in the EHL KO16 – a great achievement by our Team and a wonderfull opportunity to see hockey at a high level.

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Check out our opponents in the video below. 2009 WorldHockey Player of the Year nominee Christopher Zeller scored seven times on his EHL debut against HC Bra of Italy, but Club Egara, of Spain (who Pembroke played in the EHL in 2007) proved to be a far tougher contest for German champions Rot-Weiss Köln (wearing red in the video below).

For more EHL highlights go to www.ehlhockey.tv

Contact the office for travel details to Rotterdam this Easter 2010

Rotterdam’s earlier 6-0 win over Scottish outfit Kelburne on Saturday meant, in the wake of Pembroke’s 4-2 win over the same opposition, the sole relevance of the final group game was to decide who qualified in top position.
The game saw former former Irish captain Henderson emerge from retirement as David Harte was unable to play due to exams, but Dutch skill and speed of play told in the end.

Pembroke are now in the hat for the last 16 which takes place in Holland next Easter 2010 and will face one of the eight group winners. The draw takes place next month.

Pool G – Final Standings:
1. HC Rotterdam 10pts (+11)
2. Pembroke Wanderers 5pts (-3)
3. Kelburne 1pt (-8)

Alan Sothern strikes 4 goals to give Pembroke a vital win over the Scottish Champions, and a good chance of progressing through to the EHL last 16. It was the first time an Irish Club has won a game in the EHL.

Highlights from the Final here…

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