Germany won the women’s EuroHockey Indoor Championship title for the 16th time as they won a barnstorming final in front of an enraptured Sporthalle Hamburg crowd of over 3,500.
On an emotional evening, they held off the Netherlands in a dramatic 5-4 victory, providing the perfect send-off to legends like Janne Muller-Wieland, Franzisca Hauke and Lisa Altenburg.
The final win came hot on the heels of a dramatic late 1-0 win for Ukraine over Austria to land the bronze medal, providing another tear-enduing moment for the capacity crowd.
In the final, the Netherlands got off to the perfect start, Lieke van Wijk scoring in the second minute after a flurry of three penalty corners. They largely had the best of the first quarter with Gabrielle Mosch almost stealing at the near post while Germany always had a threat by Alexandra Heerbaart was able to deny Pia Maertens.
Seconds into Q2, though, Maertens - who was later named player of the tournament - did have her goal when she was gifted a chance close in from a loose defensive pass, gleefully finishing off.
The Dutch returned to the lead before Noor de Baat - the other main contender for player of the tournament - brilliantly broke through from midfield to lay the ball on a plate for Pam Imhof to finish off, 2-1.
And the Dutch held that advantage by the skin of their teeth into half-time. Lisa Altenburg shaved the outside of the post with one shot and was then tripped by Heerbaart outside the circle, leading to a corner and a yellow card for the goalkeeper.
That corner hit a body on the line for a stroke but Altenburg could not find the target with Julia Remmerswaal coming off the bench.
That equaliser did come two minutes into the second half with Maertens again getting the finish from her trademark position in the left corner, dodging out of danger and then firing under the goalkeeper.
She put her side in front for the first time with her third goal, this time from further out but in the same corner, Altenburg setting her up with great move.
Donja Zwinkels scored instantly from the restart to make it 3-3 before Germany made their big move. Altenburg scored from a corner and it was 5-3 with seven minutes left when she picked up a long ball for her 14th goal of the tournament.
Zwinkels squeezed in another with 100 seconds left and then the Dutch won an overtime penalty corner. Natalie Kubalski confirmed her place as goalkeeper of the tournament with a strong block to confirm the gold.
Muller-Wieland summed up the mood: “It was a rollercoaster but that is the kind of final you want to play, right? You don’t want to win by a few goals - you want it to be tight as this was.
“Everyone celebrated for 20 seconds before we realised there was another corner and know their corners are really good! Our goalkeeper [Kubalski] was unbelievable once again! It was kind of nice to have those emotions twice and then second time being even bigger!”
