Here are the new geography-based conferences for Section 1 next year. It’s for all sports but football (which will continue to be based on school size). I took out all the non-hockey schools. Interestingly, Somers is in Conference III and North Salem is in Conference I, but I put them in III since Somers is the host school and it evens out the conferences.

Conference I (8 teams): Yorktown, Lakeland/Panas, Carmel, Mahopac, Kennedy/Putnam Valley, Pawling/Dover, Brewster, Ossining

Conference II (7 teams): White Plains, Scarsdale, Mamaroneck, New Rochelle, Sleepy Hollow/Irvington, Pelham, E/T/B

Conference III (8 teams): Greeley, Fox Lane, John Jay, Somers/North Salem, Byram Hills, Rye Town/Harrison, Rye, Mount Pleasant

Conference IV (6 teams): Clarkstown North, Clarkstown South, Nyack/Tappan Zee, North Rockland, Pearl River, Suffern

I spoke to Section 1 chairman John Orlando about this. First of all, he was as concerned as everyone else. He’s seen the section grow from 13 to 29 teams, and thought a big reason is that new teams could join a developmental league and not be afraid of getting blown out all the time.

He did recommend a few options to the ADs who will approve next year’s leagues. His initial suggestion was splitting up Conference III and creating a Northern league (with Greeley, Fox Lane, John Jay, Somers/NS and other schools who play out of Brewster), a Southern league (with schools like Rye and RTH moving down) and a Rockland league. That way, within the Northern and Southern leagues at least you could have an A league (like Mahopac, John Jay, Brewster, etc.) and a B league (Carmel, Kennedy/PV, Greeley, etc.). But he was told that scheduling “cross-conference” like that was not an option, so if I had to guess, I would say that the new conferences will act as the new leagues next season.

I think all the traditional matchups can still take place. If each team only had to play their league opponents once, then a team like Suffern will have five league games (yes, including Pearl River and Nyack/TZ) and then 15 non-league games, where it can schedule Mamaroneck, Pelham, Rye, go upstate, etc. But that would probably be up to each school district on how they can schedule non-league games. 

In any case, if anyone is concerned I would start by talking to your athletic directors. They voted to approve the new alignments 59-16, and they will ultimately be responsible for creating the leagues for next year.

We’re going to be trying out our new technology today at the Clarkstown North-White Plains game, which is scheduled to start at 5:15. You can watch it live by clicking here.

We’ve never done this at Ebersole, and honestly I have no idea how it will look if we have to shoot through the glass. But we’re going to give it a shot. Feel free to leave your honest feedback in the comments section. If the sound is working, I will give a scoring summary after each period.

Later tonight I’ll post the new conference alignments for Section 1 (which hockey will have to use to craft leagues for next year), and after that I’ll have the updated power rankings.

The NYSPHSAA executive committee is discussing 13 cost-cutting measures at a meeting today-Saturday up in Binghamton.

The biggest one in my opinion, reducing the number of regular-season games from 24 to 20, has already been adopted by Section 1 on its own. But there are some others — supporting a moratorium on the expansion of the state tournament (which means not going to three divisions), using host officials for regionals (state quarterfinals), using centralized sites for the state tournament (which means it stays in Utica), and establishing a maximum of two scrimmages for varsity team and one for modified teams.

You can all 13 proposals by reading my story. The article also points out that new geography-based league alignments passed by a vote of 59-16 (in other words: don’t worry about if Clarkstown North is scheduled to move up to League 1. There will be no more League 1. There will be a Rockland league, a Southern Westchester league, a Northern Westchester/Putnam league, etc. Maybe there will be mini-leagues within those conferences, but there will no longer be a power league with the top eight teams).

I hope to get the new alignments later today. We’re still a long way away from figuring out what the leagues will look like next year, or how teams will qualify for playoffs or be seeded, but I’ll stay on top of it and let you know as soon as I do.

Both the Rye-Rye Town/Harrison game and the North Rockland-Yorktown game have been cancelled because of snow. No word yet on a makeup date. Looks like I’ll be watching Duke-Wake instead.

Hopefully the roads will be cleared tonight and I’ll be at White Plains-Clarkstown North tomorrow at Ebersole — which is looking like a sectional quarterfinal preview. White Plains has been doing just enough to win recently, and they’re still chugging along in second place in League 1. Meanwhile Clarkstown North is looking a little vulnerable. I like the Rams to win 6-3, but nothing would shock me at this point.