St. John’s, NL CAN, WPH Press, 5/9/26
The Ches Penney Family YMCA played host to the 2026 Canadian 4-Wall Nationals, featuring 84 players from across Canada, the United States, and Ireland. The Canadian 4-Wall Nationals is Canada’s most prestigious handball tournament, showcasing all of Canadian handball’s biggest stars throughout history, to include Merv Deckert, Danny Bell, Peter Service, Tyler Hamel, Ryan Bowler, and Ivan Burgos, to name a few.
Men’s Open Singles
Ireland’s Patrick Murphy entered the 2026 Canadian Nationals as the number three seed. After escaping Vincent St-Amant in a tiebreaker in the quarterfinals, Murphy dispatched second-seeded Caolan Smith in two games to meet top-seeded Jermone Santerre in the final. Murphy was in control in the first game of the final but needed a comeback in the second to win his first Canadian Open singles title in the second.
“Jerome found a lob that worked in the second game and at one point had a 13-7 lead,” WPH Canadian correspondent Shane Vigen reported. “Patty ramped up his defense and hit enough flat kills to come back and win it 15-13. Fantastic match, the two of them can retrieve anything humanly possible. It takes a lot to put it out of reach in those rallies.”
2026 Canadian 4-Wall Nationals Champions
Men’s Open Singles: Patrick Murphy
Women’s Open Singles: Jenine Wilson
Men’s Open Doubles: Team Murphy/Keegan
Men’s 40+ Singles: Patrick Shearer
Men’s 50+ Singles: Nathan Body
Men’s 60+ Singles: Jim Forest
Men’s 75+ Singles: Jay Spooner
Thank you to tournament director Andrew Short for a great event.
Watch the matches on the Canadian Handball Facebook page HERE
Follow all of the brackets from the 2026 Canadian 4-Wall Nationals HERE
David Fink
WPH Senior Writer