The Luxembourg Blacksmiths in Aachen;
Luxembourg Blacksmiths have won the Klenkes Sixes Cup in Aachen, Germany, beating Bonn in the finals on Saturday 14 August 2021.
The team competed for the first time in the new 6 v 6 format. ‘Sixes’ will be the Olympic version of Lacrosse in 2028 - fast-paced Lacrosse played on a shortened field (70 x 36 metres), with fewer players (6 per team), a condensed game length (four quarters, each of 8 minutes) and a 30-second shot clock.
The one-day tournament saw 4 teams compete - Aachen University, Aachen Alumni, Bonn Lions and Luxembourg Blacksmiths. The Blacksmiths beat Aachen Alumni 13-10 in the first game to line up the cup final with Bonn Lions who had beaten Aachen University earlier.
In the final, Bonn Lions gave a tough competition to the Blacksmiths with the first quarter ending 3-2 in favour of the Blacksmiths. However, the Blacksmiths went to build a significant lead of 7-3 by half time. The game ended 16-8 for the Blacksmiths, with Richie Jegen, Clayton Reed, Matt Finnegan, Brad Swartz, Nirav Haria amongst those scoring, while Joshua Spautz had a big performance in goal making some spectacular saves.
The Blacksmiths begin their Belgian League 21-22 Season on Sunday 10 October against Oupeye Foxes with a home game in Luxembourg. But, before that, they have friendlies lined up with Bonheiden Red Rhinos and Bochum as part of their pre-season in late September and early October. The Luxembourg-based Lacrosse Club had their 20-21 season cancelled due to COVID-19; however, they continued to train duly following the rules laid down by the authorities. The next months now finally hold the much-missed games and competitions.
The Men’s National Lacrosse Team program will also kick off in September to prepare for European Championships in April 2022 in Wroclaw, Poland.
The club welcomes interest from all age groups and skill levels to try Lacrosse and join practices. Those interested are asked to reach out by email: contact@lacrosse.lu or @luxembourglacrosse on Facebook and Instagram, for any and all questions and, in particular if you want to play the now even faster ‘fastest game on two feet’ - “Lacrosse Sixes”
