The Section 1 league schedule has been posted (here is the link), along with a few non-league games. Of the games that are listed, here are 10 series that I’m really looking forward to.

Suffern-Mamaroneck (Jan. 10 at Hommocks, Feb. 20 at Sport-O): The teams switch roles this year, with Mamaroneck now the favorite and defending champion. We can only hope that it produces as much drama and blog comments as last time. The game at Sport-O is the last League 1 game of the season and could decide the championship.

Rye-Pelham (Jan. 13 at Ice Hutch, Feb. 11 at Playland): Another sectional championship rematch, and a series that produced a lot of excitement last season. Both teams pride themselves on defense, and with the players they have, scoring against them should be even more difficult this year.

Mamaroneck-Pelham (Dec. 23 at Ice Hutch, Jan. 24 at Hommocks): If any team can break the Mamaroneck-Suffern lock on League 1 it could be this Pelham team, which is stocked with experienced talent. This is always a spirited rivalry, and features the two winningest active coaches in Section 1.

White Plains-Rye Town/Harrison (Dec. 11 at Ebersole, Jan. 26 at Playland): The newest addition to League 1 plays the team that made the jump last year. They both lost some great players, so the Dec game will be a good chance to see where they stand.

Mahopac-John Jay (Jan. 4 and Jan. 30 at Brewster): Both teams struggled last year because of injuries (Pac) or instability (Jay). I think they’ll both bounce back, but how high will they go? Enough to threaten Mamaroneck-Suffern in DI or Pelham-Rye in DII?

Brewster-Clarkstown North (Nov. 28): I just want to see who shows up to the Rams’ first game. Incidentally, North won’t play Suffern this season (Schelling told me the Mounties schedule was full), but they will play League 1 RTH (Dec. 6) and White Plains (Jan. 22), and Section 9 power Monroe-Woodbury on Feb. 8.

North Rockland-E/T/B (Dec. 20 at Sport-O, Feb. 13 at Ice Hutch): It will be interesting to see who the two teams who moved up from League 3 fare in their new surroundings. Both programs beat League 2 teams in the first round of the playoffs last year (NRock over Mt. P, E/T/B over Scarsdale).

New Rochelle-Scarsdale (Dec. 2 at Ice Hutch): New Rochelle has some of the most exciting young talent in the area, and this is an interesting test against a League 2 team. Another one comes Jan. 23 against E/T/B. On a side note, it looks like New Ro is playing all its home dates at the Ice Hutch, with six games of its nine posted games on Friday night at 6 or 8.

Yorktown-Brewster (Dec. 13 and Jan. 23 at Brewster): After Yorktown won twice by one goal in the regular season, these teams staged a thrilling double-OT quarterfinal in sectionals, with Yorktown winning again.

Kennedy/Putnam Valley-Sleepy Hollow/Irvington (Dec. 21 at Sport-O, Feb. 13 at Brewster). League 4 is always tough to figure out, but I feel like these teams could decide the championship. Both teams were strong last year (KPV was 13-3 in league and SHI won a playoff game) and return a lot. Of course Pearl River will also be in the mix, and the new Nyack/TZ merged team is also a wild card.

(update 9:30 p.m.): I talked to SHI coach (cx: Howie) Weiner and he confirmed that SHI is playing out of Sport-O this year. Long story short, the ice is $150/hr cheaper than WSA).

How do you think they’ll turn out? And what do you think I’m missing?

With the varsity football season at the halfway point, we will be presenting our midseason player awards on the latest edition of Varsity Central Live on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.Be sure to join Kevin Devaney Jr. and me, and post your questions and comments by visiting “LoHud.com/vclive.”:http://lohud.com/vclive

Well another school year is here, and that only means one thing — two months until hockey season. Seriously, I’m happy to see how many people are supporting the hockey blog already — it should be a great season.

Before I go any further, here’s some news right off the bat. Nyack/Tappan Zee was approved as a merged team and will be coached by Nyack coach Mike Hughes. You can debate the merits of some merged teams (Lakeland/Panas lacrosse, for instance), but I think this one’s the reason they were created — both teams would have folded otherwise. I wish the Dutch Indians luck so they can both get back on their feet.

Next, Chris Huntington had the interim tag taken off — he is now officially the John Jay coach. He seemed to have the support of the players (and, importantly nowadays, the parents) last season, so despite losing a lot of talent, the Indians might be an interesting sleeper in Division II. The last thing they needed was a fourth coach in three seasons, so it’s good to see Huntington back.

Finally, Clarkstown North has hired a new coach — Andrew Trust, who teaches special education in the middle school and the Rams modified coach for 2 1/2 years. Trust was in the Clarkstown school district through fourth grade before going to private school. He graduated from Bergen Catholic in ‘95. “We’re certainly looking to bounce back this year,” Trust said.  Obviously the Rams are a fascinating story — star goalie on the mend, big-name additions, trying to bounce back from one-win season, and now a new coach.

In the meantime, this isn’t directly hockey-related, but it’s about an exciting future for the direction of our coverage. Click here for Gameday Central, and you’ll see that we just did a live streaming broadcast of four football games this past weekend (Rye-Nanuet, Dobbs Ferry-Rye Neck, White Plains-Scarsdale and Mahopac-Mount Vernon), plus a half-hour football show filmed in our office. Just in the past five years we’ve added online stats, photo galleries, video highlights, and of course blogs, and clearly we’re just getting started.