Hattrick heroes: Patty Mundt's devastating shot

Patty Mundt played almost all his life at Hattem and could count himself among the absolute standouts of the hockey elite in the Netherlands from the start of the Hoofdklasse in season 1973-1974. The striker, who played 11 matches in the Dutch national team, became a feared marksman in the 1970s. Mundt especially distinguished himself by his pebble-hard shot from the penalty corner. In the old First Division, he once scored six goals in a single game, an unmatched record at that level.

The striker made the front page of the sports section of De Telegraaf on 15 October 1973. In the away game with Groninger Studenten the day before, the striker fired the ball so hard at the goal that it left a hole in the wooden goalpost.'A hockey ball, faster than the sound, ramming a hole in the goalpost. The whole of Groningen was perplexed,' said the report in the newspaper.

Mundt ended up scoring four goals in that match for Hattem, who won 1-5 in Groningen. He became the first player in the Hoofdklasse to score a hat-trick (three or more goals in one game). And it would not stop there, as Mundt produced four more hat-tricks for his beloved Hattem in the following years.

Incidentally, his younger brother, Jeroen Mundt, also features in the Hoofdklasse hat-trick hit list: he produced two as a player of SCHC in the 1980s.

Patty Mundt died on 7 March 2023 at the age of 72. He will always be remembered as the first goalgetter in the Hoofdklasse.