Boston secures a spot at the Elite Team Handball National Championships

At the end of the second leg of the Northeast League, New York City Team Handball Club (NYCTHC) leads the standings with 12 points from 6 wins followed by Boston Team Handball with 8 points from 4 wins. West Point Black and DC rank 3rd and 4th, respectively. With one tournament remaining in the league, Boston Team Handball secured a spot at the Elite National Championships held in Minnesota this May. New York City are automatically qualified as the 2011 US Champions.

This weekend’s tournament was hosted by Boston Team Handball (BTH) at the Hyannis Youth and Community Center in Hyannis, MA. The four participating teams played each other in 6 consecutive games that ran from 11:30AM to 7:30PM, on Saturday. The event was broadcasted live on UStream.tv and will be broadcast on Cambridge Community Television in the coming weeks.

The first game of the day pitted Boston against the US military academy’s team from West Point. The hosts took command of the game from its onset and finished the game with a comfortable 6-point lead 26-20. West Point later gave the US Champions a run for their money in the third game of the day; however, New York’s players’ experience had the final say in the match, which they won 31-26 after being down 10-13 at half time.

The highlight of the tournament was yet to come, in the 5th game of the day, which pitted the long-term rival cities of Boston and New York. The game was a spectacular show of handball at its highest level in the US. The game kicked off with both teams taking turns in scoring until NYC took a slight lead that got to 3 goals at the end of the first half (13-10). In the second half, the hosts looked determined to snatch a precious victory from the champions. New York’s lead was slowly brought down to a single goal, with 3 minutes left in the second half; however, the US champions managed to hold on to the lead and regain their edge, finishing the game with the 3-goal margin they had at half-time 24-21.

The long handball day concluded with a game between West Point and the DC Diplomats. DC, exhausted by their long travel, were no match to the fitness of the cadets from the Military Academy. West Point went on to defeat DC 29-15.