Held on August 9-10, 2024
Downtown YMCA, Duluth, MN
The Northshore Handball Tournament made some gains in 2024. The skill, quantity, and represented backgrounds of competitors has never been greater. Inclusion of an A division, formidable efforts of volunteers, and presence of family & friends have also elevated the revelry beyond precedent.
Jason Kelly (Galway, Ireland), Isaac Alberg (St. Paul), and Kevin Pattain (South St. Paul) advanced from a preliminary round to face two-time runner-up Ryan Pesch (St. Paul), pro-circuit phenom Andres Cordova (Juarez, Mexico), and two-time defending champion Luke Sandy (Fargo, ND), respectively. The latter three allowed an average fewer than 6 points per game in dispatching their challengers to the consolation bracket.
As is often the case, first-round intrigue was found in the 4 v. 5 match, this time between 2019 champion Dave Schiller (Circle Pines) and 2020 champion Quinn Foley (Woodbury). Thanks to the heavy competition seeded above them, this would be the first guaranteed first-round elimination of a past champion from contending for the Alva Rankin Memorial Cup. Foley, who lost 21-12,21-4 to Schiller in 2023, was the determined underdog and played some of his best handball ever. And it would take just about that to overcome an always-powerful and equally determined Schiller. Foley, never relenting and keeping all his focus on making the best plays, eventually outlasted Schiller in what may have been the thriller of the tournament: 18-21,21-19,11-7.
Schiller, separated from his relative equals in the main bracket, cruised through the formalities of gaining the consolation championship, outscoring Pattain and Alberg nearly by a 3:1 ratio – 21-5,21-11 and 21-10,21-4, respectively.
Foley was good enough to make Sandy earn his points in their semifinal, but it was unlikely that the most successful player in Northshore history would struggle to reach the final this year. Sandy advanced with a score of 21-12,21-9.
The other thriller was in the semifinal between Pesch and Cordova. Their play was equal for most of the match, where only small surges in points allowed either to break away. Fortune would be narrowly in Cordova’s favor for claim of the first game, and narrowly in Pesch’s for most of the second game. The gap would start to widen towards the end of the second game as Pesch, despite (or because of?) sustaining a lower body injury, was deep in every player’s dream of a serving groove. Things proceeded quickly in the tiebreaker until match point for Pesch, when sideouts were exchanged and Cordova started to mount a comeback. It was too little too late, as a hurting Pesch eventually won two straight rallies for a final score of 17-21,21-15,11-4.
Meanwhile, preliminary drop-downs Anthony Macias (Lake Crystal), Al Leveille (Duluth), and John Laliberte (Shakopee) competed in a round robin for the Northshore’s first-ever A division. Macias suffered a preliminary loss to Pattain in a game closer than a score of 25-17 might suggest, but this officially earned him the top A seed. His impressive athletic talent and grit, not unworthy of a berth in the Open bracket, helped him avoid any substantial threat to his path to the A championship. Scores were 21-6,21-11 against Laliberte and 21-8,21-7 against Leveille.
The Open final between Sandy and Pesch carried on without many surprises. A healthy Sandy, with his rare brand of accuracy and power, consistently kept the ball difficult for an encumbered Pesch to reach and control. While both of their talents shined and entertained, the odds were clearly in Sandy’s favor. Sandy was all business, never looking back, and the match went quickly: 21-3,21-9. Sandy has won all of his matches played at the Northshore Handball Tournament, earning three consecutive engravings on the Cup.
The finale was the 3rd place match between Cordova and Foley. It made for great spectating, with Cordova’s prodigious talent on one side and Foley’s ability to dig deep on the other. We may never actually know if the players would have finished on time, or been allowed to finish late, had they gone into a tiebreaker, but Cordova narrowly put the question to rest with a 21-17,21-19 victory before the YMCA closed for the day.
The awards banquet followed at Dubh Linn Irish Brew Pub with players and guests in attendance. Awards included prize money and woodcraft medallions for the top 5 finishers, and a new engraving plate for Luke Sandy on the Cup. Items were also raffled off, concluding with a 50:50 of the funds raised.
Organizers and participants are very grateful for everything that went into this year’s event. Special thanks go out to many, including:
- Alva Djerf for providing Friday night dinner & lodging hospitality
- Stevie Aho for handcrafting welcome gifts & raffle prizes
- Al Leveille for filling in on short notice to be the third-ever contender from Duluth
- John Laliberte & Mark Brissett for volunteering to referee
- Lee Engele, Kevin Pattain, & Mike Erdmanczyk for donating
- the players for making time for the event, recruiting new faces, & including family & friends
- especially Jason Kelly & Andres Cordova for allotting some time abroad for our event
- Jason Kelly for gifting Team Galway jerseys from the 2024 World Championships in Ireland
- Duluth YMCA for helping with tournament promotion & setup
- WDIO for covering us in their Up North series, and
- the late Henry Arneson for showing the ropes of GoPro live streaming.
We regret if any names have been forgotten.
For more, including videos of matches and media coverage, peruse the Facebook event page and photos linked here.
Photos and videos can be freely downloaded from this folder: Northshore’24 Photos and Videos (drive.google.com).