It seems like this will be the last news I break on the High School Sticking blog: After seven years at The Journal News, today was my last day.

In that time, I’ve been the beat writer for 10 high school sports (hockey, Rockland football, Rockland boys basketball, boys lacrosse, girls lacrosse, indoor track, outdoor track, boys tennis, girls tennis and my first-ever beat, bowling). And I can honestly say that hockey had the most passionate and knowledgeable fans out there. 

I’ve been told that I didn’t pick the best time to enter the newspaper business. But I couldn’t think of a more exciting time. Just think of all the innovations we’ve had in the past few years — a database of player stats and team records, a studio show, streaming games, and of course the High School Sticking blog. 

I would like to thank everyone out there for all your contributions. The information was invaluable, the criticism made me a better reporter, and some of the jokes made my day. And there is no denying the reach that this blog has. Look at the user locations from one day in February (a month where the blog received almost 43,000 visitors and more than 156,000 hits): Waterloo, Ontario; Waynesville, Missouri; Key Biscayne, Florida; Columbus, Ohio; Saugus, Massachusetts; Harvey, Illinois; Silver Spring, Maryland; Ollie, Iowa; Upperville, Virginia; and in New York: All five boroughs, Baldwin, Canton, Watertown, Ithaca and Massena. 

That said, sometimes it crossed the line. We’re talking about teenagers, and words can hurt. I got this e-mail last season from a friend of a player who was the subject of some critical comments: XXXX can’t sleep.  I don’t care if you shut down the blog, make them disappear. I don’t know who will take over the hockey beat, but whoever it is, I urge them to use the delete key more often and keep a positive tone.

I would like to thank the hockey community — parents, alumni, students, officials, scorers — who were gracious and helpful every step of the way. A special thanks to John Orlando, the most responsive and informed Section 1 coordinator I’ve ever dealt with. And, finally, thank you to the players and coaches. You talked to me after devastating defeats, you welcomed me into locker rooms and practices, and most of all, you gave me some incredible moments I’ll never forget.

Next year’s schedule is coming into focus. Suffern-Mamaroneck and Rye-Pelham will play each other twice, while Rye still plays Mamaroneck, Suffern will play White Plains and Mahopac will play Suffern, Mamaroneck and Pelham.

First, just to clarify, here are the league schedules:

Conference 1 (Brewster, Carmel, Kennedy/PV, Lakeland/Panas, Mahopac, Ossining, Pawling, Yorktown) will play a double round-robin. 

Conference 2 (ETB, Mamaroneck, New Rochelle, Scarsdale, Pelham, Sleepy Hollow/Irvington, White Plains) will play a single round-robin.

Conference 3 (Byram Hills, Greeley, Mount Pleasant, Rye, Rye Town/Harrison, Somers/North Salem, Fox Lane, John Jay) will play a double round-robin, with a few exceptions (Rye will play Greeley and Byram Hills once, John Jay will play Greeley and Byram Hills once)

Conference 4 (Suffern, Clarkstown North, Clarkstown South, North Rockland, Pearl River, Nyack/Tappan Zee) will play a double round-robin, except Suffern will only play everyone once, and there are a few more exceptions (North Rockland will play Pearl RIver and Nyack/TZ once, and Clarkstown North will play Nyack/TZ once).

Okay, now here are the crossovers, listed by HOME TEAM:

Brewster: Mount Pleasant
Byram Hills: Clarkstown South, Kennedy/PV, Lakeland/Panas, Nyack/TZ
Carmel: Nyack/TZ
Clarkstown North: Scarsdale
Clarkstown South: ETB, New Rochelle, Sleepy Hollow/Irvington
ETB: Clarkstown North, North Rockland, Ossining, Rye Town/Harrison, Sleepy Hollow/Irvington, White Plains
Fox Lane: Kennedy/PV
Greeley: Carmel, Pearl River
Kennedy/PV: Greeley, New Rochelle, Sleepy Hollow/Irvington
John Jay: Yorktown
Lakeland/Panas: Somers/North Salem
Mahopac: Pelham, Suffern
Mamaroneck: Mahopac, Rye Town/Harrison, Suffern
Mount Pleasant: Pawling
New Rochelle: Byram Hills, Clarkstown South, ETB, Fox Lane, Ossining, Pearl River, Scarsdale
North Rockland: New Rochelle, Scarsdale
Ossining: Clarkstown South, Pearl River, Sleepy Hollow/Irvington
Pawling: John Jay
Pearl River: Byram Hills, Scarsdale, Sleepy Hollow/Irvington, 
Pelham: Mamaroneck, Rye, Suffern
Rye: Mamaroneck, Pelham
Rye Town/Harrison: White Plains
Scarsdale: Brewster, ETB, Ossining, Sleepy Hollow/Irvington
Sleepy Hollow/Irvington: Byram Hills, Clarkstown South, New Rochelle, North Rockland, Nyack/TZ
Somers/North Salem: Kennedy/PV
Suffern: Pelham, White Plains, Mamaroneck
Nyack/TZ: ETB, Greeley, New Rochelle
White Plains: Clarkstown North, Clarkstown South, North Rockland
Yorktown: Mount Pleasant

It took a few more months, but after losing in the final minutes of the Division I state championship in hockey, Mamaroneck’s Luke and Christian Glaser, Sean Hagan and coach Mike Chiapparelli got that second state title in baseball (I think that’s one of the Glasers hugging Hagan on the right).

We also had Mike Miller of Brewster win the Federation golf title, Joe Marasco led Somers to the Class B sectional boys lacrosse title, and Mike Bonitatibus was the goalie for Yorktown, who made the state semis in Class A. Congratulations to all the hockey players out there for their success in the spring.

Of course, this is the hockey blog so here’s another tidbit for the offseason — the Section 1 championships will again be held as a Sunday doubleheader at Tate Rink. However, West Point was unavailable the following weekend (it needed to be held open in case Army was hosting a tournament game), so the regional games at Section 1 will be hosted by the local teams.

Sorry I couldn’t get to this until now but I was at a lacrosse tripleheader yesterday. The conferences have met to determine scheduling for next season.

Each conference held a seperate meeting to vote on the procedures they wanted, which is why some are playing each other twice, some are playing each other once, and some are playing each other twice but only counting it once. Remember, the leagues also had different rules last year (Leagues 3/4 crossed over and had 19 league games, while Leagues 1 and 2 didn’t), so it’s not precedent-setting.

Here is the updated setup:

Conferences I and III: Teams will play everyone in their league home and away. There are no mandatory crossovers with other conferences, and no other games will count in the league standings.

Conference II: Teams will play everyone in their league one time. Also no mandatory crossovers.

Conference IV: Teams will play everyone in their league once, and those five games will count toward the league championship. All teams except Suffern will then go through the league again.

Some more tidbits: Teams must have a winning percentage of 25 to qualify, so more schools should make the postseason (based on last year, Clarkstown South, Byram Hills and Nyack/Tappan Zee and possibly Greeley would have qualified instead of missing out). However, it hasn’t yet been determined whether the winning percentage includes all games, league games, division games or some combination.

The other big issue is seeding. Apparently there’s a formula that all sports in Section 1 will be using. I don’t have the details yet, but I know that Section 1 coordinator John Orlando, New Rochelle coach Jim Tozzo, and an AD from each conference will form the seeding committee.

Unfortunately I have to take another furlough (unpaid leave) this quarter, so I will be out from June 1-7. Same rules as last time: no blogging, no e-mails, no phone calls. I look forward to posting more about next season when I return.