WATERTOWN, Mass.—The Homenetmen Eastern Region (U.S.) was honored to participate in the 47th annual Homenetmen Canada Regional Games hosted by the Toronto chapter Nov. 24-26. Teams participating from Boston, New Jersey, and New York made their journey to Toronto and represented the Eastern Region.
Boston and New Jersey each sent a senior men’s basketball team, while New York sent three indoor soccer teams. After participating in the Pan Homenetmen Games in Yerevan this past summer, the Eastern U.S. athletes were excited to reunite with their Canadian kouyrs and yeghpayrs (sisters and brothers—i.e., Homenetmen members) and compete in yet another Homenetmen tournament.
The games kicked off on Friday evening, and the competition was fierce. The veteran’s (age 35 and over) New York soccer team reached the semifinals against Toronto B on Saturday afternoon. N.Y. came out strong and quickly took a 3-0 lead. However, the Toronto team was relentless and battled back to tie the game 3-3 with only seconds left in the match. The game went into penalty shoot-out, and Toronto prevailed. The New York team members put up an amazing fight, and they are proud of their accomplishments. The New York midget (U-15) soccer team also reached the semifinals, but fell short to a strong Toronto team.
The bantam (U-12) New York soccer team advanced to the finals against Cambridge. In 2016, the New York team won the tournament while beating Cambridge in the process. This time around, the Cambridge bantam team was able to settle the score, and beat New York in an epic final match.
Five men’s basketball teams in total—from Canada (Cambridge, Toronto, Montreal) and the Eastern U.S. (New Jersey, Boston)—participated in senior men’s basketball tournament. On Friday night, New Jersey and Boston faced each other, with New Jersey taking the win. After both teams went on to beat the three other teams in the tournament, they were set to play each other again in the finals in an All-American showdown.
The final game on Sunday morning was redemption day for the Boston men’s team. Boston had a hot start early in the game, but the resilient New Jersey team fought back to make it a close game. However, the Boston team took control in the second half and cruised to the championship over New Jersey, 84-71.
The Toronto chapter hosted an unforgettable and sold out Victory Gala Dinner Dance Saturday evening at the beautiful Armenian Community Center, with 600+ guests in attendance. Considering the weekend’s athlete participation, especially the number of bantam and midget age, the future for the youth of the organization is very bright.
Congratulations to the Toronto chapter for hosting a fun and successful weekend. The Eastern U.S. Homenetmen is looking forward to seeing our kouyrs and yeghpayrs from north of the border at the Eastern Region Navasartian Games in Washington D.C. in July.
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