The third and final leg of the 2012 Northeast Team Handball League was hosted by the DC Diplomats in Rockville, MD, this past Saturday. Going into the tournament, New York City Team Handball Club (NYCTHC) had won all their games and led the standings with 12 points from 6 wins with a 4-point lead over Boston Team Handball (BTH), in second place. West Point Black (WPB) and DC Diplomats (DCD) were in 3rd and 4th places, with 4 points and 0 points, respectively.
Saturday was packed with highly competitive close games, with the trailing home team having a lot of depth on their bench and NYCTHC not sending their full first team roster. Boston was missing a couple of their starters this weekend, but managed to win all their 3 games. NYCTHC won against DC and tied with West Point and DC tied in their game against West Point earning their only point of the season. However, the hosts showed that they are capable of competing against their rivals in the league, who took 3 of the top 4 spots at last year’s National Championships in Salt Lake City.
The full results from the weekend are below:
| DC Diplomats | 19 | – | 19 | West Point Black |
| Boston TH | 18 | – | 16 | New York City THC |
| DC Diplomats | 22 | – | 23 | New York City THC |
| West Point Black | 21 | – | 29 | Boston TH |
| New York City THC | 25 | – | 25 | West Point Black |
| DC Diplomats | 11 | – | 15 | Boston TH |
The final standings of the league after this weekend are:
| Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | GF | GA | Points | ||
| 1 | New York City Team Handball Club | 9 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 232 | 196 | 15 |
| 2 | Boston Team Handball Club | 9 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 199 | 173 | 14 |
| 3 | West Point Black | 9 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 218 | 223 | 6 |
| 4 | DC Diplomats | 9 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 160 | 217 | 1 |
With those results, NYC, Boston and West Point qualified for the Elite Division of the US Team Handball Nationals to be held in Minneapolis, MN, on May 18-20.
Boston Team Handball