Gantoise’s magnificent seven on Saturday meant they won the Belgian men’s national title at a canter, retaining the title in some style in Antwerp.

They were 4-0 up in the first leg with just 27 minutes gone with Romain Duvekot, Emile Esquelin (two) and François Goyet all cashing in.

They eventually raced away to a 7-1 victory with Timothée Clément filling his boots with a hat trick.

With a huge aggregate lead going into game two on Sunday, there was little jeopardy. Waterloo did show up well with Blaise Rogeau giving them the lead in Q2 only for Esquelin to equalise, continuing his dream weekend.

Sean Murray made it 2-1 – 9-2 on aggregate – before Gaëtan Dykmans and Rogeau’s second earned Waterloo a 3-2 win on the day but silver medals overall.

It means Gantoise will play in the EHL FINAL8 next Easter while Waterloo and Royal Léopold are destined for the KO16 in October.

HC Bloemendaal won their EHL Men’s tickey with a hard-fought win over Klein Zwitserland at ’t Kopje, staying out of range of Oranje-Rood.

It took until the second half before the deadlock was broken with Dennis Warmerdam scoring a nice goal from a pull-back.

Casper van der Veen then got another with a smart finish from mid-circle, getting the ball free before shooting home for a 2-0 win.

Oranje-Rood stay in second place with a 3-2 win over third placed Kampong with Rotterdam completing the top four for the playoffs with a 5-3 win over Schaerweijde.

The first legs of the semi-finals – Rotterdam against Bloemendaal and Kampong versus Oranje-Rood – taking place on Saturday with the second of three potential games happening two days later.

Den Bosch got the result they needed with the minimum of fuss to ensure they will return to EHL Women next season thanks to an 8-0 win over Tilburg.

Frédérique Matla secured the Hoofdklasse’s top scorer title into the bargain as she fired home four set piece goals as they won the Brabant derby with plenty to spare.

It assure them top spot no matter what the result for SCHC – as it happened, the Bilthoven side was not able to get the win to keep their challenge alive as they drew with Kampong 1-1.

Elsewhere, hockey legend Eva Drummond was given a big send-off to her incredible professional career as HGC fell 3-2 to AH&BC Amsterdam.

Banners adorned the venue from both her current club but also from Amsterdam for whom she played with for so many years, winning national championships and EuroHockey Club Cup crowns.

She retires from club and international hockey in the wake of this fixture having won three Olympic gold medals, three World Cups, four European Championships and a trio of Champions Trophy titles as well as two FIH Player of the Year awards.

Club de Campo’s women have been proclaimed champion of the regular competition of the Iberdrola League, bringing with it a return to next year’s Euro Hockey League.

As such, they continue as the only women’s side to play in every season of EHL Women since its inception in 2021.

Edu Aguilar’s team won the league with one match left after its 4-1 victory in La Albericia against RS Tenis.

Campo took the lead thanks to Begoña García (19′), Belén Iglesias (20′) and Alejandra Torres-Quevedo (35′) in the first half.

Tenis got one back but Inma Sophia Hofmeister closed out the title with a game left and can now look forward to the final four in a couple of weeks time.

There, they will be joined by second placed Real Club de Polo and Junior FC while the fourth spot will be determined next weekend with Club Egara and Atlètic Terrassa both in the mix.

On the men’s side, the title will be decided next weekend between Campo and Polo who are both on 53 points.

Polo let their three-point lead slip when they fell to a 3-2 defeat to Atlèti while Campo overcame Jolaseta 6-1 to jump into first place.

It was their eighth successive win to forge a huge comeback in the title challenge. Club Egara and RS Tenis are confirmed as the other teams to play in the final four.

SV Arminen’s men have assured themselves a spot at next season’s Euro Hockey League thanks to a 6-3 win over HDI WAC, guaranteeing them first place in the Austrian league.

With Austria moving above France in the EHL Ranking List it means the country have two places at next October’s EHL Men’s KO16 with the other spot going to the overall championship winner.

To get over the line with a week to spare in the league, Maximilian Kelner and Patrick Schmidt made it 2-0 in the first quarter before Alexander Bele added another couple in Q2 for a 4-1 lead.

Then, WAC goalkeeper Max Stvarnik sustained an injury and Benjamin Kelner extended the lead to 5-2 before half-time.

Despite their opponents playing without a recognised goalkeeper, just one more goal came for Arminen via Robert Campe.

The win puts them four points clear of Post SV who have one game left on their agenda.

The German women’s top four from the league phase of the season will hope to make short-work of their Bundesliga quarter-finals following away wins in the first of their best of three fixtures.

Reigning champions Mannheimer HC won 3-1 at Berliner HC who must now win twice this weekend in Mannheim to turn things around; a win for MHC on Saturday, though, will send them through to the final four.

MHC coach Nicklas Benecke does have a number of issues in terms of personnel with Florencia Habif (pregnant), Charlotte Hendrix (broken foot) and Carolin Seidel (broken hand) all out while Anissa Korth is an injury doubt.

Club an der Alster beat UHC Hamburg 3-1 to carry the big advantage into their second leg fixture. Rot-Weiss Köln emerged as a 2-0 winner at the Großflottbeker THGC and have the box seat against their opponent from Hamburg.

Düsseldorfer HC achieved the narrowest victory of the first quarter-final round. At Harvestehuder THC, DHC won 2-1 in a shoot-out after a 2-2 draw.

On their own pitch, the champions of 2021 and 2022 will want to forget last year’s quarter-final exit against UHC Hamburg.

On the men’s side, only Mannheim won on the road with a 4-1 away success over HTHC.

Otherwise, the other three sides with home advantage this weekend all have a deficit to make up. UHC Hamburg lost their first game 4-1 to city rivals Hamburger Polo Club.

Uhlenhorst Mülheim must overcome the 4-2 away defeat to Club an der Alster in the first leg while Rot-Weiss Köln must win both of their games against Crefelder HTC who the first leg 1-0.

Rot-Weiss will hope that some of Mats Grambusch, Elian Mazkour and Fabio Seitz will be back in the fold after injury.

The second legs will be played on Saturday with any required third legs taking place on Sunday. The final four weekend will follow on May 18 and 19.