We are looking for contributors to the website for the following upcoming events: USA Collegiate Nationals in North Carolina (21-23 April) and the Canadian National Championships (19-21 May). Contributors can either submit written articles or record interviews for inclusion in upcoming podcasts. If interested please contact John Ryan at john@teamhandballnews.com

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!

The Atlanta Metro Condors bounced back from a disappointing showing at the Carolina Blue Cup to win the SETHC post-season tournament. The 3 team field used a double elimination formant and also included teams from Benedict College and Georgia State University. (Atlanta Team Handball (ATH) had been dismissed from the SETHC prior to the tournament- separate commentary to follow).

Atlanta Metro defeated Georgia State 25-22 and then beat top seeded Benedict 37-28 in the finale of the Winner’s bracket. Benedict then eliminated Georgia State in the loser’s bracket finale 25-21. In a rematch of the day before Atlanta Metro again prevailed defeating Benedict 39-31 for the title. As a side note, SETHC Commissioner, Andrew Washington, commented that both Benedict and Georgia State have great athletic talent and made tremendous strides during the year in terms of their handball skills and playing together as a team.

The latest Top 5 Poll results are in:

Key: Club; First place votes, overall record, conference record, Last poll
1. New York City (1) 13-0-5 [10-0-3] -1st
2. New York Athletic Club (3) 10-0-0 -3rd
3. Atlanta Team Handball 15-1-4 [8-0-2] -1st
4. Cal Heat 9-0-0 [9-0-0] -4th
5. Atlanta Metro Condors 15-0-5 [7-0-3] -5th

Dropped Out: None
Others Receiving Votes: Benedict, NJ=Adelphi

New York City is now in sole possession of first place as idle Atlanta Team Handball slipped to 3rd in the rankings. The New York Athletic Club (the Club formerly known as Garden City) moved up a notch to second following their successful title at the West Point Tournament. Cal Heat finished the WTHC regular season unbeaten, but was not able to move up in the rankings.

Despite clearing up the team name confusion, and beating NYC at the West Point Tournament, NYAC failed to take the top spot due to being completely shut out of the Top 5 by West Region voter, Karl Laundy. Karl’s reasoning, and he’s entitled to his opinion, is that NYAC should not be in the Top 5 due to it’s all-star team makeup and non-participation in the NETHC.

The esteemed panel of voters consists of Andrew Washington, Christian Latulippe, Bogdan Pasat, and Karl Laundy.

This file contains the composite records of the teams that were considered.

[link=https://teamhandballnews.com/docs/USA_Club_Records_14_March_2006.xls]file[/link]

If you feel that this information is inaccurate, please let us know.

This past weekend the USA Women’s team defeated Quebec League leader Champlain 17-12 and lost a close decision 19-20. The Women’s team is currently 6-0-7 in the Quebec League and is fighting for 4th place and the last play-off spot. The USA Women’s National Team website is updated regularly and often includes write-ups on their matches. Check out their site at:
http://www.usateamhandballwomen.com/

NYAC continued its undefeated season with a 5-0 mark and West Point Tourney Championship. Chaudiere (Canada) took 2nd and NYC took 3rd. Game results are below.

Pool Play
Champlain 19 NE Freeze 13
Chaudiere 18 Air Force 12
WP Gold 13 NYAC 20
WP Black 10 NYC 21
NE Freeze 15 NYAC 20
WP Gold 13 Champlain 22
Chaudiere 22 WP Black 9
NYC 24 Air Force 17
Champlain 12 NYAC 21
WP Black 12 Air Force 22
WP Gold 17 NE Freeze 21
Chaudiere 20 NYC 16

Semis/Placement Games
NYAC 19 NYC 14 Semi
Chaudiere 15 Champlain 10 Semi
WP Gold 14 WP Black 25 7th Place
NE Freeze 17 Air Force 16 5th Place
NYC 22 Champlain 18 3rd Place
NYAC 23 Chaudiere 19 1st Place

Group A Wins Losses
Champlain 2 3
NYAC 5 0
NE Freeze 2 2
WP Gold 0 4

Group B Wins Losses
Chaudiere 4 1
NYC 3 2
Air Force 1 3
WP Black 1 3

Team Place
NYAC 1
Chaudiere 2
NYC 3
Champlain 4
NE FREEZE 5
Air Force 6
WP BLACK 7
WP GOLD 8

The latest Top 5 Poll results are in:

Key: Club; First place votes, overall record, conference record, Last poll
1. New York City (2) 10-0-3 [10-0-3] -2nd
1. Atlanta Team Handball (1) 15-1-4 [8-0-2] -1st
3. New York Athletic Club (1) 5-0-0 –Not Ranked
4. Cal Heat 6-0-0 [6-0-0] -4th
5. Atlanta Metro Condors 15-0-5 [7-0-3] -3rd

Dropped Out: NJ-Adelphi
Others Receiving Votes: Carolina, NJ-Adelphi, Benedict

Atlanta Team Handball’s 3rd place performance at the Carolina Blue Cup and SETHC loss to rival Atlanta Metro Condors resulted in an idle NYC picking up some votes and a share of the top spot. The New York Athletic Club (NYAC) took the Blue Cup title and vaulted into #3. (In fact the moniker challenged NYAC (or is it Garden City?, or maybe NJ-Adelphi?) would probably be ranked 1st if they could decide to stick with one name and a consistent roster.) Cal Heat held steady in 4th place and the Atlanta Metro Condors dropped to 5th after their disappointing 4th place Blue Cup performance.

The esteemed panel of voters consists of Andrew Washington, Christian Latulippe, Bogdan Pasat, and Karl Laundy.

This file contains the composite records of the teams that were considered.
[link=https://teamhandballnews.com/docs/USA_Club_Records_2 March_2006.xls]file[/link]

If you feel that this information is inaccurate, please let us know.

USOC Press Release:
http://www.usocpressbox.org/usoc/pressbox.nsf/6272c9a938d3a5cb8525711000564abd/d8f2348e52d04fe8852571230062b9e9?OpenDocument

From the Carolina Team Handball Website:
http://www.unc.edu/cthc/CTHC-MAIN.htm

Gold Medal: Garden City
Silver Medal: Carolina TH
Bronze Medal: ATH Blue
4th Place: Atlanta Metro
5th Place: Carolina Blue
6th Place: NC THC
7th Place: Cleveland Vipers
8th Place: Blue Heat
9th Place: ATH Red
10th Place: Rock THC
11th Place: Knight Air Dogs
12th Place: Tar Heel THC

We will post more details when they are made available.

A news article on the European Championship Official Site highlights this new game currently in development.

http://www.euro06.com/CMS_Files/452_item.asp?root_id=28&node_id=452&item_id=2457

Apparently, it will be similar to other action oriented games developed for other sports like soccer, basketball and footbal. It'll be interesting to see if their player database will include International players from some of the 2nd and 3rd tier nations.

According to the [link=http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-licong024610211feb02,0,2744492.story?coll=ny-linews-headlines]Long Island Newsday[/link], Italo Zanzi, a USA National Team Goalie and a member of the USA Team Handball Board of Directors is seriously considering running for Congress:

According to the Cook Political Report, the 1st District in New York is considered a likely Democratic win, but could be a “potentially competitive” race. The current representative, Democrat Tim Bishop is finishing his 2nd term and won 56% of the vote in 2004.

A few burning questions:
– Will Mike Hurdle endorse Italo’s candidacy?
– Does his platform contain a provision for a Representative Italo Zanzi Team Handball Act to replace the Ted Stevens Amateur Sports Act?

Team Handball News is pleased to announce the results of our inaugural poll for the Top 5 Men’s Club teams in the United States.

1. Atlanta Metro Condors (3) 11-0-1 [5-0-1]
2. Atlanta Team Handball 10-1-1 [6-0-0]
3. New York City 9-0-1 [9-0-1]
4. Cal Heat 3-0-0 [3-0-0]
5. Garden City (1) 0-0-0

Others Receiving Votes: NJ-Adelphi, Cleveland, Utah

The esteemed panel of voters consists of Andrew Washington, Christian Latulippe, Bogdan Pasat, and Karl Laundy.

Poll Methodology:
– Voters submit their top 5 teams (in order)
– Points for each vote are awarded as follows:
#1 – 5 points
#2 – 4 points
#3 – 3 points
#4 – 2 points
#5 – 1 point
– Each individual ranking is then pooled for a total ranking
– There are 4 voters (1 from each National Region)
– Votes will be done roughly once a month

Poll Philosophy and Guidelines (Guidance provided to the voters):
– Current performance in this year’s season should carry the maximum weight. If a team is not actively participating in any matches this should carry significant weight in your assessment. We are trying to encourage competition. Sure, there are many teams that can probably play no games during the regular season and still be a contender (heck, even win Nationals). The purpose of the poll is not to predict who will win Nationals. The purpose is to acknowledge and reward the active programs.
– Quality of competition should carry significant weight. If a team is playing good teams that should be rewarded. A team can have some quality losses and still be considered better than a team solely beating up on weak competition.
– Margin of victory should carry some weight. If a team is winning by large margins that does say something. Of course, it could also say something about the competition they are playing against.
– Significant attention should be paid to inter-regional competition like the Carolina Tournaments. This can provide a rough assessment of the quality of one region against another.
– More recent games should generally carry more weight than games from a couple of months ago.
– Previous National Championship performance can be considered. While these results are old, they are also relevant in that teams are generally at full strength and it is the best opportunity for inter-regional comparisons.

Current Record of Results
The poll, of course, can only be accurate if all relevant results are included. For the first poll, all results (since Oct 2005) in the 3 active USA Leagues, as well as the results of the Tar Heel tournament in October were included. A composite record of the clubs that were considered and their W-L-T record is provided here:

If you feel the record for your club is inaccurate or additional tournaments should be included please contact us with the results of those matches and we will update the database for the next poll.

See the press release from the NETHC site: http://www.nethc.org/news/1_25_06.html