New York Knights Defeat Nashville Crushers in First Ever NSL Championship

The New York Knights defeated the Nashville Crushers in the National Squash League Championship match last Saturday, June 22nd on neutral territory at the Arlen Specter US Squash Center in Philadelphia, PA.

The Knights, being the only undefeated team in the league, went in as slight favorites over the Crushers. They made light work of both the Chicago Grizzlies and the Newport Dragons on their way to the finals. The Crushers topped the South division with a dominating win over the Atlanta Tornadoes, but then had a surprise loss against the Derby City Colts. Though the Crushers went 1-1 on the season, they were able to go through on points, being the team with the most periods won in the South Division.

Sebastien “The Flash” Bonmalais, Matias “The Spin Bender” Knudsen, and Rory “The Tartan Trailblazer” represented the Knights, taking on Timmy “Slim Tim” Brownell, Simon “The Ginger Bread Man” Herbert, and Ronald “El Parcero” Palomino, who represented the Crushers in this highly anticipated final match.

The Knights went off to a blistering start, utilizing their power play specialist, Matias Knudsen, to build an early lead. Timmy Brownell and the other Crusher’s players did their best to diffuse, but the lead was too much to overcome. New York took the first period by a convincing scoreline, 25-16, to go up 1-0.

In the second period, the Crushers came out with more urgency, reversing the scenario from the first period by calling their power play first. Brownell was able to build a 5-point lead, followed by a great shift from Ronal Palomino, who continued to build on the lead against Knights’ player Sebastien Bonmalais. The Crushers closed out this period 23-18, leveling out the score at 1-1.

This Championship was poised to be decided in the third and final period–10 minutes longer and worth 2 points. The Knights rocketed off to a fast start similar to the first period, using both their 1 minute and 2 minute power plays in the first 10 minutes. This put them up 13-5, but meant they would have no power plays to use for the rest of the period, Nashville still with both of theirs. At this point, Nashville was fighting an uphill battle, but began to claw their way back into the match. With 7 minutes remaining, both teams made their last substitutions. It was Brownell vs Bonmalais, with New York leading 24-18, for the final portion of the Championship match. Brownell was forced to press up in order to close the gap with minimal time remaining, as Bonmalais used his rapid movement to retrieve. Brownell began to inch back point-by-point, getting within 1 point of Bonmalais at 25-26, until he lost his balance slightly in the back right corner and his lob squeezed out of court. This was enough for Bonmalais to run out the rest of the clock and secure the First NSL Championship for the New York Knights!

Presenting Sponsor, Shanin Specter, from the Kline and Specter Law Firm, presented the Championship trophy to team owners Elisabeth Hill and Lu Valdizan. Quoting his father Arlen Specter, “I look at the words up here on the girder next to the scoreboard ‘You’re never too far behind to win, and never too far ahead to lose’ and I’m sure everyone in here felt that way today.”

This concluded the inaugural season of the National Squash League, which plans to expand to 3 new men’s team and 4 new women’s teams next season in 2025.