K08 day one thoughts

For me, personally, Reuss for Mulheim was the goalkeeper of the day. With a performance that belied his young age, he put in a cracking goalkeeping showcase and was nearly the difference maker, especially keeping the score down at key times for the momentum to shift in his team's direction. He made a storming sequence of three saves in a row, only to be finally between as the ball squeaked through and rolled over the line. And was beaten by a tough deflection in extra time.

As for the other goalkeepers, Weinhold looked okay but not putting in a 'blinder', whilst Bailey did well but got undone on a stealthy drag flick sending him the wrong way and compared to his sterling work yesterday just didn't quite reach the same heights. This sort of reflected the team showing, but he's still young and has got lots of time to keep evolving until he really hits his peak and will be able to take a lot from the experience of beating Rotterdam and playing in the Euro Hockey League for the first team. Something that should help his development greatly (confidence wise, mental strength as well as playing against some of Europe's most elite) and also be useful as Reading go into the Euro playoff rounds in April. Leroy didn't have much to do but seems to provide a strong presence for the Dragons after joining them a couple of seasons ago (I *think* - can't remember which club he was at previously though!).

Will be interesting to see how things pan out tomorrow in the second part of the K08 to decide the semi-final set-up.