And just like that, we have our Olympic champions. After trading blows with Germany in the final, it was the Netherlands who held their nerve to win the shootout and to take their first men’s Olympic hockey gold medal in 24 years.
Here are a few thoughts and observations from the final day of the men’s competition.
Not every game is a classic.
For the majority of the contest this match would be filed under “not a classic”. And that is both not a surprise and is also ok. These two sides are very well matched and the stakes were sky high, so it is little wonder that despite some intense pressing and plenty of individual skills, neither side had been able to fashion many chances at goal. It’s not that it was a bad game, just that both teams were defensively very disciplined as they sought to take the sting out of their opponents.
Take your chances.
International matches are often decided on who makes the fewest mistakes. It looked for a few minutes that a defensive mistake, pounced on by Koen Bijen and touched in by Thierry Brinkman would settle the final. The Dutch only mustered seven shots on goal but Bijen’s calm head to lift it over the goalkeeper for Brinkman to finish was impressive.
Calm under pressure
Despite falling behind with the clock running down, Germany didn’t panic. They were indebted to an absolutely remarkable Gonzalo Peillat last-ditch clearance to hang in there, but it didn’t take them long to draw level. The penalty corner didn’t quite come off for them, but Thies Prinz didn’t panic and was able to adapt and get a shot in that found the net. I’ve lost count of the times I’ve heard a coach say “get something on goal” which is exactly what he did. You never know what can happen.
Blaak vs Danneberg.
Once it got to the shootout it was the current FIH World’s Best Goalkeeper vs The Rising Star and possible heir to the throne. Pirmin Blaak, the wise campaigner and Jean-Paul Danneberg, a mountain of a man with a formidable reputation in shootouts.
It’s perhaps no wonder given the calibre of goalkeepers that five of the shootouts were saved and the four that were scored were of a high quality. The end result is rough on Danneberg who couldn’t have done much more, but for Blaak, he will forever be the Netherlands’ hero. He must feel absolutely on top of the world right now!
The two faces of Duco Telgenkamp.
The good: There’s no question Duco Telgenkamp is a huge talent. He’ll be remembered for scoring the decider in the shootout for as long as he lives.
The bad: Celebrating in Danneberg’s face like that was a bit off. I’m not sure what prompted it, I’ve seen online that Danneberg said the Dutch ‘feared Germany’ pre-match, but it was more than little bit naughty and sparked some pretty angry scenes at the end of the match. Someone out there really didn’t like it judging by this Wikipedia edit.
A quick word about the bronze medal match:
India picked up the bronze medal after seeing off Spain thanks to two penalty corner goals from captain Harmanpreet Singh. The skipper stepped up when it was needed once again, India showed their fighting spirit once again and PR Sreejesh got a medal in his final game for the perfect send-off. Always win your last game.
The Top of the D 