By The Hockey Paper
Arthur Van Doren, the world player of the year, will have big boots to fill when he joins Euro Hockey League champions Bloemendaal next season after the way Jamie Dwyer left the club on Sunday.
The Belgian joined the Dutch giants in February during the Hoofdklasse transfer window, as he became the third FIH player of the year after Teun de Nooijer and Dwyer to wear the Bloemendaal orange.
Van Doren saw his new team-mates win the EHL title in sensational style in front of their home fans at the weekend with an 8-2 win over SV Kampong.
The match saw several retirements from the club game, including 39-year-old Dwyer who returns to Australia with his family after another memorable second spell and a late goal for good measure.
“It was fantastic. But now I’m done. I’m too old,” Dwyer told the EHL website. “But I will certainly miss the club”
Bloemendaal lift the 2018 Euro Hockey League trophy! pic.twitter.com/UNb46g7D5D
— Euro Hockey League (@EHLHockeyTV) May 27, 2018
Dwyer joined Bloemendaal for seven years up until 2011, racking up four club titles and the EHL title. This season Amsterdam halted Bloemendaal’s run to the Hoofdklasse title.
“It was unfortunate that we did not play our best game during the playoffs, but today (Sunday, ed.) We made it up with the EHL,” added Dwyer.
Meanwhile goalkeeper Jaap Stockmann also signed off his club career on Sundayu after 14 years with HC Bloemendaal.
“To finish off on my home ground in such an atmosphere, winning a tournament cannot be better,” he said.
“For the team, it was fantastic to see after the great disappointment in the playoffs to get back into it, reshape and put on this kind of performance. I think we were unstoppable.”
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