Champions League Semi-finals Update

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Live stream video of the Champion’s League semi-finals will be available this Saturday, starting at 3:15 PM Central European Time (Don’t forget that Europe is already observing Daylight Savings Time, so that start time will be 8:15 AM on the North American East Coast)

Well, there were no major surprises in terms of which teams won last weekend as both Veszprem and Ciudad Real won at home for their first legs of the Champions League Semi-finals.

Veszprem won a narrow 29-27 victory over Portland San Antonio (Pamplona) which was somewhat to be expected as Portland is the superior team. For a while during the match it looked like Veszprem might be able to pull out a better margin of victory as they pulled ahead by 5 goals at one point. In the end Portland came back and it will be tough for Veszprem to stay within two goals this Sunday in Spain.

Odds: Courtesy of BetandWin.com: www.betandwin.com
Sunday’s Match: Portland San Antonio (-4.5)
To advance to the Champions League Final
Portland San Antonio: -285 (Bet 285 to win 100)
Veszprem: +195 (Bet 100 to win 195)

While it wasn’t a surprise that Ciudad Real won at home, their 9 goal thrashing of Flensburg (31-22) was more than expected. This puts Flensburg in the difficult position of having to win by 10 on Saturday. Of course, anything is possible: Ask Montpellier last year. It’s safe to say, however, that Ciudad Real will be a much tougher team to successfully pull that kind of an all out blitz.

Odds: Courtesy of BetandWin.com: www.betandwin.com
Sunday’s Match: 11/10 point spread not available
To advance to the Champions League Final
Ciudad Real: -2500 (Bet 2500 to win 100)
Flensburg: +725 (Bet 100 to win 725)

Odds to Win the Overall Championship
Ciudad Real: (-142) (Bet 142 to win 100)
Portland San Antonio: 1.4 to 1
Veszprem: 9 to 1
Flensburg: 20 to 1

New Qualification Format for 2007 PANAM Games and 2009 World Championships

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The Canadian Federation Website has outlined new qualification formats for both of these events. http://www.handball.ca/newsletters/77.doc

A few observations:

[b]PANAM Games[/b]- The Canadian-American competition scheduled for Oct/Nov 2006 will provide some meaningful competition for these two long time rivals. The specifics are not stated, but I for one, would like to see a Champions League style home and away competition for both the Men and Women. Why not a doubleheader (Men and Women) at Cortland one weekend, followed by a return double-header match the next weekend in Montreal? Or vice-versa, as there should be a draw to determine the order since it is a significant advantage to have home court for the second match.
– The repechage (or 2nd chance qualification) between the US-Canada loser, 1 or 2 Central/Caribbean nations, and 4th place South America is a good idea, but fairly ambitious, considering the costs and organization involved.

[b]World Championships Qualification for 2009[/b]
– More meaningful competition is good and kudos for the IHF for providing funding for the tournaments.
– This clearly is an improvement on the qualification system being used for 2007.
– The information is somewhat sketchy, but I assume that there will still be a Pan American Championship (similar to the one planned for the Men in Brazil this June) in which the winner will be automatically qualified. Then there will be two separate tournaments, each with four teams, with the winner of each of those tournaments receiving the two remaining spots. This raises a number of questions concerning the exact format- round robin, who hosts, seeding, etc. Not to mention, the fact that the Women actually have 4 spots thanks to Brazil’s finish at the 2006 WC.

[b]PATHF Website and Communication[/b]
– It’s frustrating that information like this trickles out primarily through the Canadian and Brazilian Websites. I had a short email exchange with the PATHF President, Prof Manoel Luiz Oliveira and he indicated that the PATHF Executive Council recognizes the need for better communication and a PATHF website. Hopefully, this shortcoming will be rectified in the near future.

Note: Just in case you ever wondered why Greenland participates in the Pan American Handball Championships, but not the Pan Am Games it's because as an autonomous part of Denmark, it depends on who you talk to as to whether they are in fact an independent nation that can field it's own National Teams. The IHF has welcomed Greenland as a independent member nation, but the IOC still considers Greenland to be part of Denmark. Since one of the requirements for participation in the Pan Am Games is to be a member of the IOC this explains why Greenland isn’t part of the equation for the Pan Am Games, but is for the Pan American Team Handball Championships. Greenland, however, is seeking IOC status, so this may change in the future: http://www.playthegame.org/News/Up%20To%20Date/IOC_agrees_to_discuss_membership_for_Greenland_and_Faroe_Islands.aspx

US handball star Darrick Heath featured in university paper

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Darrick Heath is the personification of what US handball could be: athletic, with a vibrant personality, a passion for the sport and a dedication that dwarfs everything not handball.
One of his students at prestigious [link=http://www.emory.edu/]Emory University[/link] in Atlanta, Georgia has written an [link=http://www.emorywheel.com/media/paper919/news/2006/03/28/Sports/Darrick.Heath.Air.Jordan.Of.Handball-1750483.shtml?norewrite200603281439&sourcedomain=www.emorywheel.com]awesome article[/link] about him.
I feel privileged to have played with and under Darrick, a true professional and a worthy ambassador of our sport.

ATH’s Dismissal from the SETHC- Commentary

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The back and forth arguments regarding seeding for the SETHC playoffs resulted in the unfortunate dismissal of the ATH from the SETHC. The questions regarding seeding were raised by ATH Coach, Chris “Cap” Cappelmann and centered around Benedict College receiving the number one seed despite having won fewer games in the conference. For those unfamiliar with traditional Handball (or Euro format) standings, the ranking of teams is done strictly by the points awarded for wins and ties. Winning percentage is not used, so by Cap’s logic (and traditional Handball circles), ATH with an 8-2 record should have received the #1 seed over Benedict’s 7-1 record.

For whatever reason, however, the SETHC and its commissioner, Andrew Washington chose to use the winning percentage method and awarded Benedict the top seed. This decision and example scenarios concerning seeding was then sent out via email in January to the SETHC. The time for complaining (justified complaining, in my opinion) would have been shortly after that email and prior to the matches played in February. Waiting until after those matches and shortly before the play-offs is simply the wrong time to make your case.

The resulting email dialogue which grew increasingly personal led to the commissioner’s decision to remove ATH from the league. Cap, in my opinion, had a valid point, but made the point at the wrong time and in frustration, also crossed the line in his dialogue with Andrew. And regardless of how much you feel your team has been wronged, it’s important to keep perspective on just how important that seeding was in relation to the opportunity to have competition.

Andrew, in my opinion, could have been a little bit less dismissive in responding to some of the email traffic. I also think that if the earlier email containing the scenarios was resent that might have resolved the issue earlier. And finally, perhaps the punishment should have been simply on the coach, instead of the entire team. (e.g. suspension for the first day of the tournament)

But enough! I think everyone should move on from this and learn from it. Having two good teams in the same town is quite a luxury to have. I’m sure clubs like Utah, Cleveland and other locales are scratching their heads. Some of the commentary I’ve seen also suggests that ATH and Atlanta Metro need to better share the workload logistics for making a league work. That sounds like a good plan. Let’s also hope that next season the league adopts 100% clear parameters at the start of the season and that these rivalries are settled on the court, instead of the court of public opinion. But maybe this will be settled on the court sooner than that. Hmmm, I wonder who’s setting the brackets for the USOC Championship next month.

Champion’s League Guide to the Semifinals

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To help educate the uninitiated, here’s a short guide to the upcoming semifinals this weekend and next.

(Also, don't forget that Europe starts Daylight Savings Time a week earlier than North America)

First, here’s a snippet from the Handball 101 article https://teamhandballnews.com/e107_plugins/content/content.php?content.12 in our Education Section that explains the unique home and away format used in the knockout stages of the tournament:

The 2 Game Playoff Format: Coming from the land of “best of 7” playoffs, the Super Bowl and the lose one and done NCAA Basketball Tournament, this format takes a little getting used to. Perhaps the simplest way to look at is to think of it as playing one, 120 minute game. Albeit with a week long halftime and a change of venue. If one team wins both games, they, of course, advance. If they split, the team with the better overall goal differential advances. If the goal differential is identical the team that scores more away goals advances. This format, while strange, does have an advantage in that there is no “garbage time” during the first game, because you never know what will happen in the second game. (Read my account of the Montpellier – Flensburg game to get an idea of what can happen; even 14 goals is not a safe victory; http://teamhandball.blogspot.com/2005_03_01_teamhandball_archive.html

Now here’s some background on the teams and the matchups

MKB Veszprem vs Portland San Antonio

Schedule:
Portland San Antonio at Veszprem Sunday, 26 March, 3:15 PM Central European Time (CET)
Veszprem at Portland San Antonio Saturday, 1 April, 5:20 PM (CET)

Odds (courtesy of betandwin.com www.betandwin.com)
Veszprem:
To advance to the Finals: +300 (Bet 100 to win 300)
To win the Champion’s League: +600

Portland San Antonio
To advance to the Finals: -500 (Bet 500 to win 100)
To win the Champion’s League: +150

Sunday’s Match: Veszprem is a 1.5 goal favourite

MKB Veszprem http://championsleague.eurohandball.com/index.asp?mode=club&ctrl=1&saison=2006&id=1832 : Veszprem is perennially one of the top clubs in the Hungary. Currently, they are in 2nd place in the Hungarian 1st division, behind Pick Szeged who was eliminated in the round of 16 by Ciudad Real. Veszprem
Notable Players:
Vlado Sola: Sola, 37, has been a mainstay in the Goal for the Croatian National Team for many years. He is also known for his somewhat flamboyant hair color which is currently bleached, but has also been blue and red.
Carlos Perez: A Left Wing, Perez, 34, is originally from Cuba, but has been naturalized as a Hungarian Citizen. According to the Veszprem website he has played 207 International Games (36 as a Hungarian, 171 as a Cuban)
Outlook: Definitely, the biggest underdog of the remaining 4 teams. They will need an outstanding first match at home to have a shot at advancing on aggregate.

Portland San Antonio http://championsleague.eurohandball.com/index.asp?mode=club&ctrl=1&saison=2006&id=4230: PSA has one of the best and highest paid teams in the world and is currently in first place in Spanish First Division. In the Champions League quarter finals they knocked out #2 Barcelona 48-47 on aggregate.
Notable Players: Caspar Hvidt and Thomas Svensson – two Scandinavians with experience, speed and reflexes. Right wing Albert Rocas is one of the coming international stars at is position. And of course handball genius, Center Back Ivano Balic, arguably the best player in the world.
Outlook: . It is packed with stars and they need the title. It will be a huge upset if they can’t make it to the finals.

Ciudad Real vs Flensburg-Handewitt

Schedule:
Flensburg-Handewitt at Ciudad Real Sunday, 26 March, 5:00 PM Central European Time (CET)
Ciudad Real at Flensburg-Handewitt Saturday, 1 April, 3:15 PM (CET)

Odds (courtesy of betandwin.com www.betandwin.com)
Flensburg:
To advance to the Finals: +140
To win the Champion’s League: +300

Portland San Antonio
To advance to the Finals: -200
To win the Champion’s League: +150

Sunday’s Match: Ciudad is a 4.5 goal favourite

Flensburg http://championsleague.eurohandball.com/index.asp?mode=club&ctrl=1&saison=2006&id=1903: The “Danish” entry in the German First Division they are currently in 3rd place behind Kiel and Gummersbach. In the quarter-finals, though they beat Kiel 64-62 on aggregate
Notable Players: Of course coach Kent-Harry Andersson is a key member of the team. His routine and skilled coaching from the bench has earned him several coach-of-the-year awards. His "extended hand" on the court is play-maker Glenn Solberg. The Norwegian star player is both head of the team and a top scorer. The shooters in the team are the Danes Lars Christiansen and Joachim Boldssen. Boldssen was injured for the last few weeks, but started practice this past week.
Side Note: The Danish keeper Hvidt (from Portland San Antonio) provided video Material about Ciudad Real to his National Team buddies who play for Flensburg.
Outlook: Flensburg is 4-7 against Spanish clubs and is eager to increase that score. Flensburg lost two years ago in the final against Celje and vows to win the CL this time around.

Ciudad Real http://championsleague.eurohandball.com/index.asp?mode=club&ctrl=1&saison=2006&id=4354: Another perennially top team from the Spanish League. They defeated Celje (Slovenia) in the quarterfinals and currently are in 3rd place in the Spanish League.

Notable Players: "Two stars on every position" is how Flensburg's coach describes this Spanish squad. Spanish NT goalie Hombrados is definitely going to be a tough nut to crack for Flensburg. He was the key in the final of the last WC's for Spain to take the title. Playmaker Enterrios works very well together with Ex-Cuban Urios on the circle. The pair is also extremely successful playing for the Spanish NT. The left back Rutenko from Slovenia was Euro top scorer without even playing all games. Ex-Cuban and Ex-THW Kiel player Julio Fis is another world-class shooter on this position with a wealth of experience. On the right backcourt you have Croat Petar Metlicic and Icelander Olafur Stefansson. Any club would sell their president into slavery to just have one of these guys on their team. Ciudad has both. Croat Dzomba and Swede Källman are the wings. Ciudad even has enough extra cash to pay for a defensive specialist, Didier Dinart who mans the 3 position on defense.
Outlook: This team is loaded with talent, but Flensburg should put up a decent fight. Still don’t be surprised if there is an all Spanish final.

Canadian Participation at PanAM Championship Still in Doubt

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From the Canadian Federation Website: http://www.handball.ca/newsletters/76.doc

“We are amazingly, still no closer to a definite answer regarding participation on Canada in the Senior Men Pan American Championship. Dates are yet to be confirmed as several countries moved to have the competition in June and participation of Canada as a ninth team in competition was denied last weekend by the PATHF Executive Committee; only hope to participate is as a replacement team.”

More Live Streaming Video of Champion’s League Matches

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The EHF has announced that they will be Web Broadcasting all of the remaining Men’s Champion’s League Matches and some of the upcoming Women’s matches as well.
http://home.eurohandball.com/ehf_files/ehf_news/CL_pressstatement_2203/default.htm

Also, because Europe starts Daylight Savings Time one week earlier than North America the matches this Sunday 26 March and next Saturday, 1 April will have a 7 hour time difference (as opposed to the usual 6 hours) with the East Coast. That means the first match will start at 8:15 AM and the second one will start at 10:00 AM.

Atlanta Metro Condors Take SETHC Title

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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.

USA Top 5 Poll (NYC Take the Top Spot)

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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.

Duelling National Championships- Commentary

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If Championship Boxing can have multiple titles for multiple fighters than why not Handball?

As reported earlier, the current or former (take your pick) President of the USATH, Mike Hurdle, has already announced a National Championship in Georgia to take place in May over Memorial Day weekend. The USOC has now announced that they will be hosting an Open Championship in Houston at the end of April. So this begs the question, which one is the real championship? But perhaps, the better question is, does it really matter?

After Mike Hurdle informed us of the USATH Championships, I started a running email dialogue on the topic with him. In particular, I questioned the format of the tournament (over 5 days), the timing (Memorial Day Weekend) and the location (Georgia). Basically, my points were that this was too significant of a time commitment over a major holiday and that the announcement’s flavour was a little too parochial in my book.

Mike’s response was that the intent was to move beyond the “Beer Hall Nationals” mentality and to have a higher quality, elite level tournament in which the teams will have an opportunity to rest. Additionally, he emphasized that the focus is on the Junior Divisions and he anticipates a lot of youth participation from the local area- hence the Georgian flavour of the announcement. Mike also pointed out that the Condors would probably even send a team to the “Beer Hall Nationals” that the USOC is subsidizing.

Well, my own personal perspective, is that it sounds like Mike Hurdle is setting up a nice tournament in Georgia and he should be strongly commended for the Junior Division focus. I also like the format over what has been traditionally done at US Nationals in the past. I would be hard pressed to make that kind of time commitment now, but if I was a younger, more dedicated athlete that’s the tournament I would go to if I thought it was going to be well attended. Which is the crux of the matter. The US, unfortunately, is probably not quite ready for a format like this. Maybe next year, but not this year as tumultuous as it has been. I expect that this USATH Tournament will be “National” in name only. Teams will have a choice on what to do. Some might even go to both, but I’d expect that most teams will vote for the smaller time commitment, smaller dollar expenditure and the traditional format.

So to answer my rhetorical questions… The real National Championship will be the one with the best National representation. And does it matter? No, not really.