Pembroke face Dutch, Ukranians in EHL first round

Pembroke Wanderers were drawn in Pool F with Dutch side HGC and Ukranians Olympia Kolos Sekvoia last night in the EHL Round 1 draw. They will play in HC Oranje Zwart in Eindhoven next month, October 15th – 17th. Details of match times will be announced soon. As Deirdre Mackay has reminded us – start saving now and get those days booked off work!

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.