State quarterfinal capsules
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- March
- 6
The state quarterfinals feature two of the top three teams in the state rankings. I’ll be the first to point out that I haven’t seen the out-of-area teams, but I’ll still put my 19-3 postseason record on the line. Here’s how I see it playing out:
Mamaroneck (24-2-1) vs. Section 10’s Massena (18-6), 7 p.m. at Massena Arena
Head-to-head: Mamaroneck won at Massena 6-1 on Feb. 14.
Common opponent: Mamaroneck beat Pelham 5-2 and 4-0. Massena beat Pelham 4-2.
Scouting Massena: The Red Raiders have won five state titles, including last year. These stats obviously aren’t complete, but it does give you some idea what kind of team Massena has — very strong defensively (only giving up 17 shots a game), solid in net (Joshua Holmes has a 1.10 GAA and 94 save percentage) and balanced offensively (six players have double-figure points with just 14 games reported).
Outlook: Normally I would be concerned about overconfidence after Mamaroneck thrashed Massena three weeks ago, especially considering that the Tigers have gotten off to slow starts in all three of their playoff games and that could be very costly on Saturday. But Massena ended Mamaroneck’s bid for a state championship last year, so I think the Tigers will still come out with the same intensity and passion as before. The key for Mamaroneck has been the third period. As long as the game is still close after two periods, you have to like Mamaroneck’s chances to wear down another opponent and pull away late. Massena has the winning tradition and what should be a rabid Saturday night crowd (the last meeting was in the afternoon), so I expect a close game, which means… Mamaroneck 4-2.
Pelham (17-10) vs. Section 2’s Queensbury (23-2-1), 12:45 p.m. at Glens Falls Rec Center:
Head-to-head: Queensbury won at Pelham 3-2 on Dec. 21.
Common opponent: Pelham beat Rye 3-1 in the sectional final and lost to Rye twice by a 2-1 score in the regular season. Queensbury beat Rye 6-5 and 3-1.
Scouting Queensbury: The Spartans have been to the Frozen Four two years in a row. They have a pair of stellar goalies in Travis Marlow (10-1, 1.67 GAA, 90.8 save) and Dylan Hafner (11-1-1, 1.82 GAA, 90.7 save) and two of the top three scorers in the Capital District League during the regular season in Kevin Corbett (19 G, 28 A) and Kevin Valenti (24 G, 20 A).
Outlook: Pelham has overcome its five-game losing streak with six straight wins. Goaltending has been outstanding, the defense hasn’t made mistakes, Flory has been a monster, Mike Mamone has been all over the ice on both ends and freshman Colin Reilly has stepped up. The team has kept its composure when behind and played smart when it was ahead. Most surprisingly, with all the talk of the first line, the second line has scored the winner the past two games (both by Adrian Rivera). WIth all that — and the knowledge that the previous meeting was decided in the final seconds on a defensive turnover and could have gone either way — I still have to pick Queensbury, who went 3-0 against the best DII teams in Section 1 this year. Queensbury 2-1.
This entry was posted
on Friday, March 6th, 2009 at 12:19 pm by Harold Gutmann. 
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No way, Harold. Pelham is on a roll and firing all cylinders. They have worked hard and overcome having missing players to win games. Now, with everyone (except maybe Emerson) they are at full strength and have huge momentum. They almost had Queensbury in December, and they are much stronger as a team now.
They will win this game 3-2.
I like Pelham also
Pelham 4 Queensbury 2
Mamaroneck 5 Massena 2
Harold,
No webcasts this weekend!!! Typical lohud..they bring you all this way…with great coverage of big matchups in season..playoffs..and Section 1 championships..then leave you at the alter. I’d love to know the costs involved since i’m sure that is the excuse being offered. One guy, one camera…we’d take up a collection and pay for it. From watching section championship..there were 500 plus viewers watching. For state championship you may 750 people. Lohud is in the money business..let them ask for a nominal fee; $2 or $3 to cover expenses.
I’d pay that to watch these games!!!
Speaking of money, how come section playoffs cost me $7 – or $10 at West Point – and state quarterfinals cost only $6?
http://www.1340wmsa.com/
There will be no webcast, but there will be internet radio, link above, remember the game time is 7 pm on saturday. You can listent to the game, which I found more enjoyable than watching a grainy, choppy screen and trying to figure out what is going on. The play by play guys are really good. Should be a good game, and as long as the internet feed works, it should be an enjoyable listen.
Its Massena, i would bet some will offer a dozen eggs for admission. I think they have the barter system still up there don’t they?
In The Valley-
Harold has pointed out a few times during the season that they were only webcasting from locations that they have tested sight lines, know they can do it, gotten permission from the rink, and have the WiFi access with which to uplink it. I am not sure what they have looked into and what they haven’t, but it could very well have been one of these issues that is preventing them from doing it. If nothing else, they weren’t going to send someone upstate to do a test run and make sure the sight lines & Internet connection are OK. If you remember, he told us early in the season that they couldn’t do games at Playland, so if the section had not secured West Point this past Tuesday, the D2 championship would not have been webcast either.
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puck14-
If the quarterfinals were down here, it would have cost you $7 also. Ice time is considerably more expensive down here than it is upstate, hence Section 1 needs to charge more for admission to games than Section 2. Section 10 probably would need to charge even less to cover the ice time which probably doesn’t even break triple digits per hour up in North Country.
Note to Ed Witz- Dress Emerson even if he is not cleared for contact. The way those two teams play defense, it could easily end with a shootout. Emerson can do that without getting hit. I give the advantage to Lamdin over either of the Spartan tenders in a shootout.
Does anyone else think that Pelham was actually stronger a month or two ago? I’ve seen them play and they may have been more dominant closer to the beginning of the season, they went from a one line team to a one player team, and the one player doesnt play much defense at all, he kind of hangs out on the blueline waiting for the breakaway pass. I have seen them play Queensbury before, whose game is all about offense, and honestly Queensbury, who runs a solid 3 lines who are all great scoring lines, will most likely tire out Pelham. But if Pelham can get some good shots in, maybe they can pull this out as Queensbury’s goalie is very subpar.
Still I think it’ll be 4-3 Queensbury, with the play mostly in the Pelham zone but Flory netting one or two on a breakaway. He can finish well, but i just dont think Queensbury gives up enough opportunities.
MAMARONECK 3 MASSENA 2 OT HAGAN FROM POINT WINS IT
QUEENSBURY 4 PELHAM 2 PP GOAL AND EMPTY NET GOAL
(HOPE I’M WRONG) SENDS PELHAM HOME
GOOD LUCK SECTION 1 !!!
-pelham was better back then
Are you kidding me….were they a better team when they lost 5 straight games. And now they have won 6 in a row. Also that “one player” you talk about is the best overall player on the team. He plays just as good a defense as the defensemen on the team. To say he plays no defense is absurd. Anyway flory didn’t even score last game against rye (better luck next year ha ha) and two of the goals came from Rivera on the second line. So by saying Pelham has went from a one line scoring team to a one player scoring team is ridiculous. NOt only is our first line scoring goals (not just flory) but our second line is scoring as well. Also Riely has stepped up big from the second line and has given Pelham points when they needed them.
Pelham 3-2
Lambdin is by far a better goalie than Marlow or Hafner
On the cost of ice – do you think West Point charged the section full top-dollar price for the ice?
Watched the Pelham Rye game at West Point, I dont think Flory dropped below the blueline in his defensive zone almost the whole game, not saying he isnt a great player but to say he’s the best “2 way player around” as was said before is just not true. Rivera is the second best forward on the team offensivly, Reily is good for a freshman and Mamone is strong defensivly. But Flory is all about the goals, not the D.
I agree with u pelham. Pelham’s lack of depth will be exposed tomorrow, as Queensbury can run 2 or more lines and will end Pelham’s season.
What exactly are you doing this weekend without your beloved hockey team playing? Giving Ed Witz pointers?
Come on now….on to baseball.
hopefully we will get updates
I just heard there is no phone service inside the rink at Glens Falls! Can anyone give us updates?
Just wondering myself…how are we going to get updates on Pelham??? Is section I and X the only sections that webcast (audio or video) games??? I thought surely a ALbany area station would have an audio on the web? WHERE IS HAROLD..Massena I suppose. Help!!!!!!!!!
In case there is any interest..mine is mild at best. North Country Sports is webcasting the Salmon River – Burke Catholic Div II at 6:30pm. Would kill a half hour until Mamo plays at 7pm.
received a text that pelham and queensbury are tired 1 to 1 after period 1
Pelham was better back then, you are completely wrong.
I can’t say I noticed Flory’s defense changing much at West Point, but I have watched almost every pelham game this season(you obviously have not watched pelham more than once), and I can say definitively what makes him a great, not just good player, is his willingness to come back and play d, which he does very well. Flory is an outstanding player at defense. My guess is that the reason you think he just hangs around pelham’s blue line is his speed/initial burst is so elite that every time pelham gets possession on defense, he’s already moving forward, and creating breakaways. As a result you think he must not have been playing defense, because no one could’ve created a breakaway like that if they were playing defense. But the elite forwards in the league can.
And you really don’t need to give your opinions on Pelham’s team if they are worthless. Although Adrian has been extremely clutch the past two games he’s nowhere near the 2nd best forward offensively on the team (no offense adrian if you’re reading this). From a pure offensive standpoint I’d say Flory>Emerson>Mamone>Reilly and then Adrian slightly over Hernandez.
I heard Pelham will start the second with Dzenis in the box. Ugh!
Pelham leads 4-1. Queensbury changing goalies now.
great prediction harold….
Pelham destroyed Queensbury today. Got the 3 goal advantage and then played great defense. Anyone questioning the team is way off. Still missing the teams number 2 scorer in Emerson and there they are heading to Utica. Need to respect that even though we are not fans
The goal tending for pelham has been outstanding. as for Queensbury what looks good on paper does not translate to good in real life. Watching the game today the QB goalie looked like he didn’t know what he was doing.
And just giving up on trying to stop a puck.(i believe it was the 1st goal back door).
dont sell them short. Today was Queensburys third loss of the season.
Great, the third loss was their last. They got BLOWN out by a Pelham team that is missing their second leading scorer. Queensburys power play looked like a penalty kill.
Outplayed on all fronts, except penalties. The Queens did that very well.