Netherlands beat Germany for men’s field hockey gold

Paris: The Netherlands won gold in men’s field hockey at the Paris Olympics after beating Germany 2-1 in a shootout on Friday night in a final that was delayed briefly when a sprinkler inexplicably came on early in the second half.

Then a scuffle interrupted the postgame celebrations.

Captain Thierry Brinkman, Thijs van Dam and Duco Telgenkamp scored in the shootout.

Dutch players piled on each other to celebrate, Germany’s Niklas Wellen took exception to Telgenkamp pumping his chest, ran

over and began shoving him, leading officials to separate the teams.

The tensions were much different than nearly an hour earlier when water began spraying the sideline and field 3:28 into the third quarter.

Workers ran over to stop the shower, and the crowd at Yves-du-Manoir Stadium cheered when the water went off after about two minutes.

Perhaps that is all the game needed to go from a scoreless, defensive struggle to a thriller with a dramatic finish.

Seconds into the fourth quarter, Brinkman gave the Netherlands a 1-0 lead on a tap-in after Koen Bijen sprinted between defenders to create the goal.

Another goal nearly followed, but Germany defender Gonzalo Peillat got his stick on the ball in mid-air just before it reached the net.

Instead of falling behind by two, Thies Prinz tied it for Germany 3:20 after Brinkman scored, beating

Dutch goalkeeper Pirmin Blaak clean off a penalty corner.

The Netherlands had an excellent chance at scoring with 56.1 seconds left on a penalty corner, but Jip Janssen fired wide left of the goal.