I’m in Buffalo.
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- February
- 28
Another six hours of driving. I should’ve brought my iPod with me and picked up an iTrip or some other device to play it in my car. This is the kind of road trip where you run out of CD’s. Then you flip around the upstate radio stations and catch Nelly Furtado’s “Say It Right” for the fifth time, and you roll your eyes like “I hate this song,” and then listen to the whole thing for the fifth time. It’s a sad situation. And it’s not nearly over yet.
There’s a strong likelihood that I will be covering North’s game tomorrow and then driving straight to Albany on Friday for Suffern’s Saturday game. If North wins, they’ve got it worse than I do. They bounce back up to Canada  I mean Canton (Section 10)  for a state quarterfinal on Saturday.
I saw a sign out my hotel room window earlier that said “Cheesecake Factory,” but upon closer inspection an hour later I found it said “Opening in November.” Looks like more fast food for Dan.
Rye will apparently be playing Salmon River in their quarterfinal on Saturday. Pelham beat Salmon River earlier this season, so it’s not an impossible task for Rye to make the state final four. Of course, the Salmon River head coach is the winningest high school hockey coach in New York State history, so Jason Friesen will have his hands full as the game progresses. Rye has proven its mental toughness this season with some last minute comeback wins, so I wouldn’t count them out of Utica.
This game tomorrow is supposed to be at some place called the Amherst Pepsi Center or Pepsi Arena in Williamsville. It doesn’t sound like the classy old historic hockey barn that Massena Arena turned out to be, but maybe it has a press box. If it does, I’m pretty happy.
This entry was posted
on Wednesday, February 28th, 2007 at 4:13 pm by Daniel Kiernan. 
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Dan: I know it is probably a lost cause—but any way you can find out if they will have anything going with it being broadcast on the net like Massena had?
any Rye vs Salmon River predictions?
dan we all appreciate u making this road trip around the state in the process of making section 1 hockey heard! see you in albany saturday. good luck north! LETS GO SUFFERN!!!
dan – thanks for the dedication and giving Clarkstown N. the coverage they deserve as they are traveling everywhere! I know they are the parents of the players appreciate it!
Dan, Nelly Furtado is a genius in womanform and “Say it Right” happens to be a phenomonal song. You should be so lucky to hear it only five times.
Are you in the Hampton Inn? I was there last week. Don’t go to that Dave’s barbecue across the lot. It’s awful. There’s a better barbecue about 3 miles down the road.
Danno – I’ve got two words for you. Satellite Radio.
I recommend XM, but you’re good either way. The only way to stay sane in the car, cause commercia radio will make you lose your gray matter.
Go grab some wings and a couple cold ones and enjoy the games!
Hey DAN are you going to be live for the game
“itsabreeze,” almost certainly not. Even if the arena has wireless internet or somewhere for me to hook up a cable, I probably won’t have time. During this busy playoff season, everybody’s deadlines for stories are tight.
Hopefully somebody with a blackberry can keep us up to date. THANKS DAN FOR ALL YOUR SUPPORT IN SECTION THIS YEAR AND KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK. IF ANY OF THE PROTACOL POLICE ARE CHECKING THE BLOGS WE THINK DAN SHOULD GET A RISE $$$$$$
so who are gunna be the big guns next season?
Someone wanted to know the cost for a radio broadcast. This is what I found on the NYSPHSAA page…..The fee for any one (1) radio broadcast of a NYSPHSAA sponsored contest (semifinal or final) shall be $250.00 per contest. Looks like there is no cost for these games. If they move onto Canton they should contact Northcountrysports.net to see if they would have it on. Canton has a station that will broadcast the game and NCSPN might pick it up for you. It is worth a try if the team wins.
—-
THE PERFECT STORM IS FORMING ——NORTH AND SUFFERN IN THE FINAL
VIA THE INTERNET NOT AIRWAVES FREE—— NEW YORK STATE INTERSCHOLASTIC BROADCAST NETWORK $49.95 ANYONE CAN HOOK UP VIDEO OR MIC TO A LAPTOP AND WE ALL CAN ENJOY THE GAME
alright first of all. you cannot even compare the speed, intensity, and skill level of juniors to high school. its not even close. junior hockey is faster, better hockey and you play way better competition and have better chances of furthering your career to a higher junior team or prep school. and also just looking at junior players stats on journal news.com does not show you how good a player is. you have to watch a game and see his ability and how he helps the team which does not necessarily have to do with points. anyone who bases their opinion of a player on his high school stats on journal news is a fickle fan and knows slim to none about real hockey. maybe they know public high school hockey but not real hockey.
Sorry to let you know but the broadcast via internet or radio is not free. NYSPHSAA and the site coordinators are very strict about this. I am sure if you just sat with the fans and tried to broadcast without anyone noticing you might get away with it. But if you were to do it why not do it the right way, your boys deserve the exposure back home. Like I said if you get to Canton they have a radio station that will be doing the game, I am sure you could work something out with NCSPN to pick up the game.
Right now northcountrysports.net says they are tentatively planning on doing the Rye at Salmon River game at 6:30.
good luck north.. suffern would love to see you in the final!!!!!
As tough as it was to lose the sectional final to Suffern, the outbracket sounds kinda fun…think about it..you miss a week of school, traveling the state with your teammates playing competitive hockey…that sounds like a good week to me..
Dan..can you give us some insight into this from the CN perspective…is there a team bus, are the kids getting homework assignments, do they practice and where, off-days, curfews, how many parents and fans are on the trip, good meals, bad meals, hotels…it would make a great article..
Dan-some tips for Buffalo. Pepsi Center has 4 rinks. They are very cold-so dress accordingly. Snack bar is nice. Couple of shops in the lobby. But you must go to the Anchor Bar on Main Street-it’s the home of the original Buffalo Wings. Can’t believe I am saying this, but GO North. And of course big time GO MOUNTIES.
I predict North 5- Lancater-2. Lancaster barely skated by a decent Fairport team in 4 OT’s. Fairport lost the Section 5 sectional final to Aquinas 5-1. They are good, but not as good as North. North, on paper so far, wins this game.
Another North Romp…. 8-2
Hey C NORTH fans can you please post scores tonight as soon as you here anything. The radio broadcast was so cool. To bad tonights game is not on the radio.
Yeah if anyone hears ANY updates, please post
Hey Dan,
Hopefully you read this Blog message. With the season winding down, I would like to know how successful your blog was this year. I would like to know the following if possible?
How many hits did you receive?
How does that compare to that other sports(Basketball) Blogs?
And by the way, on behalf of all the bloggers, I would would to thank you for your coverage of High School Hockey. I think you can see from all the responses to your blog how much we all enjoy the sport of Hockey. You have given all of us a nice venue to voice our opinions.
Bet you in a week or two the Journals sales volumes drops when hockey season is over. You do realize that 100’s of Hockey families bought the Journal just to read about the hockey write-ups and you articles.
ANyway, when the season is over, take a nice vacation (And I don’t mean up in Buffalo). ANd remember, only 7-8 months and Hockey season starts again! Bet you can’t wait….
Dan,
Awesome job this year! The blog is great and your coverage of games has been very fair and well written. It would be great if the Journal News could expand their site to include radio or video of some games next year. Or through the section, either way, but you should get the credit bc it was mentioned on your blog. thanks for the effort, Go Section 1, all the way to Utica!
Radio Broadcast
I WILL pay the $250.00 to NYSPHSAA if someone will do the game for us
Dan, there is also a Smokey Bones in Buffalo-Best ribs west of Albany.
any updates on tonights game would be great… either here or syracuse.com… good luck north.. GO SUFFERN!!! mountie ram final!!!!!
anybody know what the section 1 or state record for # of points is for a season..??
Bryan Gitler (Scarsdale) 134 pts. 2003-04 season
Well Dan
If The boys win in Buffalo tonight I’ll see you in Canton, you should take a pit stop at LSU or Clarkson to get a feel for the ECAC. I know I’ll be hitting up in Potsdam becasue the pots damb good in potsdam, Love the Indian Reservations.
That is the Section 1 and New York State record.
i couldnt get 134 points in 134 years. incredible record.
Gitler never came off the ice that season. He played a shift at forward and then “rested” by playing a shift on defense. That was the year they upset North in the semis and lost the Section 1 title to Mamaroneck.
Bloom’s freshman year
anyone know where Gitler ended up playing? did he go juniors or prep school? that record will stand for a very long time…
Never played hockey again.
Road Trip:
To answer you question, this is just an unforgettable experience for these boys whether they win or lose. Most of them did the road trip last year too. They are on a coach bus, eat and stay together during the day and then go off to the game. It is a very close knit group of boys. There were more than 500 Massena fans in the arena Tuesday night compared to about 12 North fans. The Massena team came out—big boys all with red Mohawks and the crowd going crazy. You would think this would have intimidated North but it did not and you know the outcome of this game. The unfortunate thing is missing a whole week of school—it takes a while to catch up once they come back. But no matter if they win or lose, it is something they will never forget!!!
REALITY
As soon as I hear any score, I will post it. Thanks, Dan, for all your hard work, long trips and coverage of our team. GO NORTH!!!
Hey what time is the game tonight? I’m getting antsy
North Parent:
Thanks for the insight..it sounds like a great experience..
Go North..keep us updated with tonights score!
Yes – the boys are loving this. They get to miss school an entire week! They went to either the mall or Niagara Falls today.. just enjoying the sites and trip!
Well – I dont know if they are loving this, but they’re having fun with what they have, is a better way o say it. GO CLARKSTOWN!
Now here’s the thing – knock on wood – if North does pull it out tonight and has to play Saturday – that means 3 Section 1 teams are playing in state quarterfinal games Saturday night – Journal News – Are you going to be able to send 3 reporters to these games??
If North wins, they DESERVE coverage in Canton. Rye will be playing the same night up there as well. Suffern is only a 2 hour trip to Albany. Are all these games goign to be covered fairly, if there are indeed 3 games Saturday?!?!?
Does anyone know what time the North/Canton game would be (assuming North wins) on Saturday and what time the Rye/Salmon River game is? I know the sections up there are big and their schoool districts cover a lot of ground, but I would imagine Canton’s rink and Salmon River’s rink must be at least somewhat close to one another meaning one reporte could cover both games if they have a little bit of travel time between them. If that is the case, and Dan is the only one available, then I say send him back North (sorry Dan). If not, send him to Albany (he’s been on the road all week and he deserves to be at the game closer to home so he can just get home Saturday night or Sunday morning without another 6 hour drive. If Dan goes to Albany, then dispatch two reporters in one car to Section 10 Saturday morning, let them share a hotel and keep each other company on the ride and let one go to cover Rye & the other go cover North. These games deserve coverage. We could be on the verge of downstate hockey history here. Rye, North, Suffern, & Monroe-Woodbury are all in the quarterfinals together. And not only that, but they are all on the oppisite ends of the brackets, so if all the pucks fall the right way, we could feasibly have a Suffern/North D1 final and Rye/MW D2 final. That would certainly shut the upstaters up and earn us some respect!!!!!
Unfortunately section 1 basketball will probably be favored for coverage over hockey..tying up all available reporters and Dan can only be in one place for the hockey quarters.
If North wins they play Canton on Saturday at 11:45 AM.
Rye will play the Shamrocks on Saturday at 6:30.
I go to school at Potsdam and have seen both of these teams play. Canton is simply dominant. Their goalie Joseph Spadaccini has only allowed 13 goals in 25 games with a .955 save percentage. Marc Plante from Salmon has 31 assists.
I am actually student-teaching at Salmon River right now and their kids are pumped. I told them they could avenge my high school’s loss to Rye in the playoffs (Ossining) with a victory.
For more info on these teams, check out sectionXsports.com.
Wait – the quarterfinal game with Canton is at 11:45AM Saturday?
Why isn’t that the evening game?!?
Are you sure?!?
High school Hockey fan the game starts at 7:30
according to the paper. Im glad that some of the parents
went to tuesday’s game and hopefuly the same tonight.
How far is Lancaster from Orchard Park?
your right Lohud fan those towns up in the section 10 area
are small not like Suffern and Rye or Nyack If 1s a 5:00 game and the other 1 is a 7:30 you could cover both.
whats the weather like up there this week?
Dan your a very lucky man to be in Buffalo at the pepsi center.
I just heard from the North Country Webcast folks and here is their email:
Hi again,
We have completed our arrangements and YES, we WILL be web broadcasting the game on Saturday between Rye and Salmon River.
Thanks for contacting us.
Bob, NCSN
Towns in Section 10 are REALLY SMALL, trust me. Everything up here says noon. I don’t know why, SLU doesn’t play on Saturday.
Is the North/Canton game @ SLU? Since I’m stuck here anyway, I’d like to go. If someone wanted to go to both games, Canton and Ft. Covington (where Salmon River is) are about an hour apart.
They are calling for snow and ice up here tomorrow and Friday, then snow on and off until Monday. That is the way it goes up here.
As far as I know there’s no set time for the Canton game if North wins. 11:45 a.m. doesn’t seem impossible, though.
I don’t agree with basketball coverage over hockey.
Hockey is way more exciting and should take priorty over
basketball.
Dan, check it out on sectionXsports.com
And “LoHud Hockey,” I believe Rye and Monroe Woodbury would end up meeting in the semifinal if they both won in the quarters. No chance for a downstate state final in D2.
anyone know anything about this team lancaster, north is playing
Dan is right about the D II brackets as posted on various websites. According to those brackets, the Section 1 (Rye)/Section 10 winner plays the Section 9 (Monroe Woodbury)/Section 6 winner in the first D II semifinal game at Utica. North and Suffern are on opposite sides of the bracket. Still, all us downstaters can root for 4 of our teams to get to Utica. The boys from down south will all need to win on the road today and this weekend, though. If they survive this weekend, Utica is at least a fairly neutral (and fan accessible) site.
Let’s not jinx it and talk about a North/Canton game. Please let North get through tonight first. GO NORTH!
so who are the top 10 going into next year?
players that is
DOES ANYONE KNOW WHERE I CAN WATCH THE SUFFERN/SHEN GAME ONLINE SATURDAY NIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!?????????????????!!!!!!!!!!!! PLEASE I NEED TO KNOW BECAUSE MY STUPID PARENTS WONT DRIVE ME UP TO CLIFTON PARK
I know you’re up in Buffalo. Hopefully, you’re going to stay over and COver the Fordham game against St.Joe’s?
No excuses! you’re already there!