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Ella Duken

Last weekend saw the 22nd edition of the Arminen Koller Cup, held in Vienna over the first weekend of every year. Despite a string of cancellations, some of them at the very last minute, a phenomenon which seems to plague most hosts and organizers these days, the list of participants was impressive as always, promising high class indoor hockey.

Especially since many participating teams are in the middle of their preparation for international competitions: on the men?s side, Scottish team Menzieshill participate in the European Club Championships A Division in Terrassa, Spain in three weeks time, while Danish Orient Lyngby are preparing for the Club Championships B Division to be held in Goteborg, Sweden in February. The Czech U21 team will be seen at the Men?s U21 European Nations Cup in Oporto, Portugal, also in February.

The US national team made the Arminen tournament a stop of their current European tour which they are using to build the squad ? and get to know newly appointed coach Billy McPherson, who this past weekend was doubly stressed by working with the USA and his actual team Menzieshill ? for the PanAm Indoor World Cup Qualifier held in Washington DC March 14 to 17.

The men?s round robin saw Orient Lyngby emerge as early favorites, winning all three games in the slightly stronger Pool A (against the Czech U21, Menzieshill, and Swiss Grasshoppers Zurich), while hosts SV Arminen Koller found no match in Pool B and beat Dutch EMHC Eindhoven, Czech Bohemians Prague, and Team USA rather easily.

Saturday afternoon?s crossover games provided more suspense, with Arminen narrowly beating Grasshoppers 6-5, after the current leaders in the Swiss championships had taken an early lead, while Orient Lyngby had to take Bohemians to penalty strokes to advance to the final. The US team lost their crossover game against the Czech U21 3-6, unable to take advantage of a superiority in number for the bigger part of the game due to one of the Czech players receiving a red card.

Sunday?s placement games brought no big surprises. In the game for 7th place, the USA beat Eindhoven as they had in Friday?s round robin game. Menzieshill defeated the Czech U21 to take fifth place, while Grasshoppers beat Bohemians 10-6. The final between Orient Lyngby and Arminen ended in a 5-5 tie and was decided by penalty strokes with a final score of 9-7 for Arminen.

The women?s competition took a strange turn on Saturday ? after both the Dutch team and Western Ladies Glasgow had taken first place in their respective pools by winning their round robin games (the Netherlands in Pool A against Austria and German tour team Charme on Tour, and Western Ladies in Pool B against the Czech Republic and Arminen), they both lost their crossover games, with Austria defeating Western Ladies 4-2, and the Czech girls easing past the Dutch team for a chance for first place with a score of 7-5.

Sunday?s placement games brought a bronze medal for the Netherlands with a 4-2 win over Western Ladies, while in the closely disputed final the Czech team wrestled down the Austrian girls and took first place with a score of 5-4. Both teams face each other again in less than three weeks? time in each team?s first game at the European Indoor Nations Cup A Division in Angers, France, which also serves as the European qualifying tournament for the 2003 Indoor World Cup.

On that same weekend, the third placed Dutch women enjoy home advantage in the European Nations Cup B Division in Rotterdam, while fourth placed Western Ladies Glasgow are contestants in the European Club Championships A Division in Hamburg in February.

Final Standings:

Men
1. SV Arminen Koller
2. Orient Lyngby
3. Grasshoppers Zurich
4. Bohemians Prague
5. Menzieshill
6. Czech U21
7. USA
8. EMHC Eindhoven

Women
1. Czech Republic
2. Austria
3. Netherlands
4. Western Ladies Glasgow
5. Charme on Tour
6. SV Arminen Koller

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