The highlight of the last weekend in the Dutch male league was a replay of the previous season’s final. Polar Bears, the 2nd-placed team in the 2022 Championships, hosted reigning champion Het Ravijn. Polar Bears recorded a narrow 11:10 win.
Five games were played last weekend. Due to the participation of the Dutch clubs in the LEN cups, the schedule had to be changed, and some games were postponed.
Polar Bears – Het Ravijn 11:10 (1:4, 4:1, 4:2, 2:3)
Polar Bears: Ten Broek 2, Van der Horst 2, Cavalje 2, Kunz 2, Scherrenburg 1, Meijer 1, Roels 1.
Het Ravijn: Ter Brake 2, Muller 2, Wouters 1, Hageman 1, Dijkink 1, Aanstoot 1, Gottemaker 1, Hetink 1.
ZPB H&L– AZC 8:8 (4:0, 2:3, 2:5, 0:0)
ZPB: Van de Velden 2, Van den Burg 1, Willemsen 1, De Waal 1, Kuller 1, De Ruijter 1, Onbekend 1.
AZC: Van den Heuvel 3, Van Gulik 2, Reuten 1, Nispeling 1, Filipovic 1.
ZVL 1886 – ZPC Amersfoort 14:7 (3:3, 4:2, 5:0, 2:2)
ZVL 1886: Brancatello 4, Simac 2, Van Ruiten 2, Haasnoot 2, Kinces 2, Jovanovic 1, Van Wijnhoven 1.
ZPC Amersfoort: J.Van der Werve 2, M.Van der Werve 1, Slaghuis 1, Van de Bunt 1, Van Mil 1, Borcsok 1.
De Ham – GZC Donk 9:20 (2:1, 1:4, 3:7, 3:8)
De Ham: Vant Veer 4, Sap 2, Van t Veer 1, Bons 1,Groenendijk 1.
GZC Donk: Winkelhorst 4, Westerwoudt 3, Schouwerwou 3, Veenhuis 2, M. Van der Weijden 2, J. van der Weijden 2, Van den Heuvel 1, Sjardijn 1, Terlouw 1, Van Ijperen 1.
UZSC – PSV 10:9
Het Ravijn took off to an excellent start in the derby and took a 4:1 lead before the first break. However, Polar Bears regrouped after the first break. They caught up with the champion by halftime (5:5), and built a 9:7 advantage before the final eight minutes. The hosts streched the margin to three in the middle of the fourth quarter (11:8). In the remaining time, Het Ravijn narrowed the distance (10:11), but couldn’t equalize.
ZPB H&L Productions and AZC shared the points in a game with big ups and downs. ZPB H&L earned a 6:0 lead, and it seemed that it would achieve an easy win. Still, AZC was able to come back and level at 8:8 at the end of the third quarter. But, none found the net in the final eight minutes and the match ended in an 8:8 draw.
ZVL-1886 Center beat ZPC Amersfoort convincingly (14:7). The middle two periods, in which ZVL scored nine and conceded only two goals, made the difference.
GZC Donk did a clean job in an away match against De Ham – 20:9. Jorn Winkelhorst, a member of the Dutch national team who arrived at Donk this summer, scored four goals in a big victory.
1 Polar Bears 2 – 6
2 UZSC 2 – 6
3 AZC 2 – 4
4 GZC Donk 1 – 3
5 ZVL – 1886 Center 1 – 3
6 ZV de Zaan 1 – 3
7 Het Ravijn 2 – 3
8 PSV 3 – 3
9 ZPB H&L Productions 1 – 1
10 De Linge/PCG 1 – 0
11 De Ham 3 – 0
12 ZPC Amersfoort 3 – 0