Author Archives: Bogdan

USA Nationals 2K6 (A)

Posted on by

Thursday, April 27 2006

[color=#0000ff]Part I:[/color]

A great weekend for handball ahead.

It is hard to stay objective when opining on a sport in which you are more than a mere observer. Be that as it may, I will try – over the next few paragraphs – to convey what these Nationals were like.

I was thrilled when I found out that Houston was going to organize the Nationals for the 3rd year in a row. I admit, I am very subjective on this issue. Houston has been my home for the past 21 years. If it'd be up to me, Houston and the GRB will be hosting the Nationals for many years to come.

Most of our US readers know the setup. The GRB is a convention center. A huge one. I'm not sure how big the Titanic was but the GRB is bigger. And wider. And taller. It actually looks like a ship from the outside. It's TEXAS SIZED. Three full size handball courts, with room to spare, were setup again. The only thing different this year, was the court number assignments. Court 2 was the easiest to remember.

The tournament featured a relatively large number of teams considering the short notice. 28 team. 12 Elite, 8 D1 and 8 Women.
Texas registered 5 teams. 3 Men (Stars One and Too and Firehawks) and 2 Women (Shooting Stars and 'Hawks), Georgia did even better. 7 teams. 5 Men (Condors I and II, ATH, GS and Rock) and 2 Women (Rock and Condors). Two states one third of the competition. Would the medals follow the same pattern?

The Elite Champs en-titre were there as well: NYAC (Garden City). West Point men and women. Silva's North Carolina, Zaharia's Miami Sharks, Amir's Salt Lake Warriors and Jim's Air Knights. Chris Musso's "Globetrotter" Smurfs were the odds on favorite to win the Women Open.

The tournament was stacked with great talent. The batlle lines were drawn as there were plenty of "scores" to settle:
– Would ATH prove its 'on-court' prowess against the Condors?
– Could anyone dethrone NYAC?
– How would Chicago, Salt Lake and Firehawks fare in the Elite Division?

Subplots galore.

USA Nationals 2K6

Posted on by

My attempt at getting creative with the final results and standings of the 2006 US Nationals got me in a bit of trouble. My memory DID NOT serve me well, hence whatever information I had initially posted was out of whack. The easiest way to rectify the situation was to post [link=/docs/Nat2006.xls]the official final stats and standings spreadsheet[/link] courtesy of Robert Sewell. I shall follow up with a few thoughts and podcasts from this past Houston weekend. Stay tuned.

2006 US Nationals Update

Posted on by

Just released. Thanks Jan!

This update includes an overall seeding for each division and the pools for each division.
The game schedule is almost complete and I will try to send in out in the next two or three days. Taken into consideration by the Competition Committee were last year’s standings, league and tournament results (when known) and relative preliminary roster strengths.

The [color=#0000cc]A[/color] , [color=#9900ff]B[/color] , [color=#006600]C[/color] , [color=#ff0000]D[/color] groupings were determined by, among other factors, seeding as well as geographic considerations.

There will be a general meeting on Friday afternoon starting right after the 12 Noon games. It will be held on the Main court in the Convention Center. There will be a representative from the USOC in attendance.

Registration will be on Thursday afternoon starting at 3 PM in Hilton America Room 346 A & B. the Coaches Meeting will be held on Thursday evening at 8.30 PM in the Hilton America in Room 344.

[b]ELITE DIVISION:[/b] Overall seeding 12 teams:

1. NYAC (Garden City), 2. Condors Elite, 3. ATH, 4. Cal Heat, 5. Carolina, 6. LATH, 7. Miami Sharks, 8. Salt Lake Warriors, 9. Chicago Inter, 10. NE Freeze, 11. Houston Firehawks, 12. Houston Stars

POOLS:

[color=#0000cc]A: NYAC, Salt Lake, Chicago[/color]
[color=#9900ff]B: Cal Heat, Carolina, Firehawks[/color]
[color=#006600]C: Condors, Miami, NE Freeze[/color]
[color=#ff0000]D: ATH, LATH, Stars[/color]

After the initial round robin, the teams will be rank ordered one through three in their respective groups and the remaining games are as follows:

1) A1 vs. B2
2) A2 vs. B1
3) C1 vs. D2
4) C2 vs. D1

The teams that finished third in their respective groups after the first round robin will then form one Group [A3, B3, C3, and D3] and play a second round robin and their final standings in the second round robin will decide their placement in a final game for 9th & 11th place.

All elite teams play 5 games.

[b]DIVISION 1:[/b] 8 teams – 2 pools of 4 teams each. Each team is guaranteed to play 5 games. Seedings in paranthesis.

[color=#0000cc]Group A: NCTHC (1), Air Knights (4), West Point Gold (5), Rock Handball (8)[/color]
[color=#ff0000]Group B: West Point Black (2), Atlanta Metro (3), Georgia State (6), Houston Stars Too (7)[/color]
[i]**Division 1 teams in 2 groups of 4, play as A1,A2,A3,A4,B1,B2,B3,B4 on Friday and their first game Saturday. Get reseeded based on results and play Sat evening as MDx[/i]

[b]WOMEN'S DIVISION:[/b] 9 teams – 3 pools of 3 – 6 games for 7 teams, 5 games for 2 teams (I think)

[color=#ff0000]Group A: Smurfs, West Point Black, Rock Handball[/color]
[color=#0000cc]Group B: Carolina, Firehawks, Atlanta Metro[/color]
[color=#006600]Group C: Houston Shooting Stars, Cortland, West Point Gold[/color]

Teams in 3 groups of 3, play Friday as A1,A2,A3,B1,B2,B3,C1,C2,C3, they continue Saturday reseeded as WOx. The bottom team (A3,B3,C3) in each group continues through Sunday as WOx. The other teams, top two based on Friday results, depending on Saturday results Group D (A1,B2,C2) Group E (A2,B1,C2) become WxoD & WxoE Saturday evening.
[i]**There is s a chance that there will ONLY be 8 women’s teams. If this happens teams will be regrouped into two pools of four.[/i]

Steaua Bucharest to face SC Horta in the Final of the '05-'06 Challenge Cup

Posted on by

My maiden post from across the Atlantic (that would be westward…) "happens" to involve my club alma matter. Steaua Bucharest!

Today, Steaua lost to Agram-Medvescak Zagreb by 1 goal, 24:25. Having won last week by 2 goals in Bucharest (30:28), the "blue dogs" earned their 1st trip to a European Cup final in 17 years. A dry spell, to say the least, for the former Champions League winners of three decades past.
Winning the coveted trophy will not be easy. Steaua is set to square off against the powerful Portugese club of SC Horta. The Lusitans disposed off BSV Bern in impressive fashion, outscoring the Suisse (sic!) 60:53 over the two semifinal matches.

The Final's first leg is set for April 22/23 with a rematch set for April 29/30.

Here's to a happy ending… to me!