On to Utica
-
- March
- 8
Mamaroneck and Pelham took different routes, but the end result was the same — they are both moving on.
Mamaroneck took Massena’s best shot in a hostile environment, but outlasted the defending state champions 5-4 in double overtime to advance to the Division I Frozen Four for the first time ever. More details about Mamaroneck can be found in my story and in the Watertown Daily Times.
And Pelham used a familiar formula — breakout performance by Flory (five goals), outstanding goaltending, and an impenetrable trap once they grab hold of the lead — to defeat Queensbury 6-2. You can read about the Pelham game in The Journal News and the Glens Falls Post-Star.
Incidentally, both Westchester teams are now 8-0 7-0 in the playoffs after allowing the first goal of the game.
In the other Division I quarterfinals: Greece (Section 5) outshot Ithaca 34-13 but the only goal came with a minute left in the second period as the team stayed undefeated with a 1-0 win. … Reigning finalist West Genesee (3) scored three times in each of the first two periods to beat Shaker/Colonie 7-0. … And Niagara Wheatfield (6) continued its remarkable first season in varsity hockey by defeating Monroe Woodbury 3-1.
And in Division II: Burke Catholic (9), who like Mamaroneck lost in overtime last year in the quarterfinals, shut out Salmon River 4-0, allowing just six shots in the final two periods. … In a wild game where the teams actually switched rinks, Kenmore East (6) scored twice in the final six minutes and again in overtime to beat Saranac 4-3. … And New Hartford (3) scored three times in the third period to defeat defending state champion Webster Thomas 3-1.
So here’s the schedule for Utica, with state rankings. Taking home ice into account, both local teams will likely be favored in the semifinals and underdogs in the finals.
Division I
Semifinals, Saturday
No. 2 Mamaroneck (25-2-1) vs. No. 8 Niagara-Wheatfield (16-10), 3:15 p.m.
No. 1 Greece Athena/Odyssey (25-0) vs. No. 4 West Genesee (22-3-2), 5:45 p.m.
Championship: Sunday, 3:30 p.m.
Division II
Semifinals, Saturday
No. 3 Pelham (18-10) vs. Burke Catholic (18-4-2), 10 a.m.
No. 1 New Hartford (26-2) vs. No. 4 Kenmore East (19-4-2), 12:30 p.m.
Championship: Sunday, 12:30 p.m.
Note: The 1992 Suffern state championship team, which is being inducted into the New York State High School Hockey Hall of Fame, will be honored in a brief on-ice ceremony Saturday at 2:55 p.m.
I’m starting the first of some mandatory days off this week, but I’ll be back Tuesday with scouting reports and a special Championship Edition of Varsity Central Live at 7:30 p.m., featuring special guest Brett Jackson of Mamaroneck. In the meantime, I hope the conversation continues with reflections on a great day for Section 1 hockey, plus thoughts on the upcoming opponents and travel information on Utica (best places to eat, stay, etc.).
This entry was posted
on Sunday, March 8th, 2009 at 8:20 pm by Harold Gutmann. 
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Scouting report New Hartford?
What was their schedule like this year?
How much depth?
**Correction, “Incidentally, both Westchester teams are now 8-0 in the playoffs after allowing the first goal of the game.” Mamaroneck scored first on North Rockland in the first period and held the lead into the early stages of the second
monarch
true, harold, mamo did score the first goal in the North Rockland game early in the first period.
if anyone is still interested in good local hs hockey, chshl b championship (best out of 3) is as follows:
holy cross (flushing) vs. xavier (manhattan)
game 1, monday, 3/9, flushing, 5:30pm
game 2, friday, 3/13, coney island, 7pm
game 3 (if nec.), saturday, 3/14, mount vernon, 8pm
Mamo w. the cake walk sched. PLaying a down year Massena, a first year niagra and avoiding WG or Greece
Paste this link at the bottom and it will show the team work Pelham displayed in their regional win. 1st goal shows Rivera from his knee’s getting Mamone the puck and Mamone feeding Flory for the wide open net goal, 2nd goal is Dzenis taking a shot and Mamone putting the rebound in the wide open net, 3rd goal shows Mamone hitting Flory breaking across the front of the net, I didnt see any hanging on those 2 goals. 4th goal was a breakaway by Flory off a great feed from either Rivera or Rielly. This is a very unselfish team, the newspaper article didnt express that, by even bringing up what the Queensbury coach said is dumb. Sour grapes on his part. I read the article from upstate and his saying the game was slow because of stoppages by the Refs, well the only stoppage was to award Queensbury with a goal that should have never counted as it when into the net a few seconds after the whistle. Pelham was the better team for the game, Queensbury was the better team for the 1st 13 minutes, thats all.
http://capitalnews9.com/Video/video_pop.aspx?vids=85894&sid=32&rid=12
Congrats Pelham and Mamo. Get a room fans, ‘cause these two Section One teams will be playing on Sunday. Two years ago Section One had two teams in the Frozen Four only to have both lose to the eventual champs; Suffern in a shootout to Andy Isles and Ithaca, and Rye to MW. I think it will be different this coming Saturday. Sunday’s finals opponents will be a much tougher draw, though.
The Pelican win and margin of victory does not surprise me. I thought the winner of the D2 Section One Final would play in the state finals. Queensbury has inexperienced goaltending. It was not exposed by Rye or Pelham in the 3 game set in December, because neither Section One teams were playing their best. The Garnets were in the midst of a bad December and Pelham had not really hit their stride. The top D2 teams in Section One play a much tougher schedule than do the upstate D2 teams. It is showing now. Hope they find a way to keep the power league in place.
The Queensbury comments regarding the Pelham plan were sour grapes. Flory does fly the zone early on the breakout, but he can do that because he has Mamone, a strong defensive center staying back with Dzenis, a super d talent. Both can make the strong first pass out of the zone.
Regarding Burke Catholic, they are beatable. In addition to losing to Scarsdale (albiet when the Raiders had that nice mid season run), Burke was smoked by Whitesboro, a team that both Mamo and Rye dismantled on consecutive days in mid January. Burke’s top 3 players all participated in Empire games this summer. I will compare them to players the Pelican fans know. Their goalie is a lot like Rye’s Benincasa. Rangy and quick. Their top scorer Healey is a quick forward like Mundinger. Their other top forward Reinfreid is a bigger, more physical center, like Mamone, although the Burke center skates better than the Pelican center. No Flory. And not much depth. Even though Pelham has been painted as a two forward, one dman and goalie team recently, they are deeper than Burke. Pelican players like Rivera, Harms and Reilly have been contributing down the stretch.
Finally, i have traveled up to Utica a bunch of times the last few years for Frozen Four, travel and Rome tourneys. Shortly before the exit on the Thruway for the Aud (Exit # 31, I think), the troopers sit on the median with the radar gun.
Hey wow Sched,
Change your name to “wow I am jealous”. Loser.
To hear that they have Mundinger, a faster Mamone and a Benincasa doesn’t really put me at ease about this game.
I wouldn’t say “down year massena” they are very good. Great win Mamo, keep it going. Do not take the semi final game lightly and you will be in the finals! Good luck.
wow schedule…that is an absurd statement. Dont let others know how dumb you are, just keep quiet.
to Sec1 fan- I don’t think their defense is that strong.
According to the newspaper they held Salmon River to 6 shots over the last 2 periods, so they must have a pretty good D.
Please tell me Mamo is showing up the night before to Utica instead of the day of the game! Who made the call to drive up the day of the game against Massena?! Yes they won, but dont’t tell me that rolling out of bed at 5am and riding on a bus for 7hrs helped their performance.
A bunch of the Burke Catholic kids play for Ice Time. That travel program is known for their positional play and hockey sense. I am sure once BC got up a few goals, they put in plce an effective trap. Just score first and lock it down.
Harold
Please elaborate on your observation that it
was an “incredibly hostile environment” up in Massena.
Agreed. The Journal News article was borderline ridiculous. Instead of centering on how Pelham dismantled probably the top D 2 team in the state on the road the reporter was more worried about listening to the cry baby Queensbury coach. The article should have been a celebration of Florys 5 goals, Pelhams hard nosed play, Pelhams goaltending and defense and Pelham playing that close the door defense once they had the lead.
Section 1,
I meant that in a good sense. There were 1,500 fans in the arena — at least 1,425 of which were rooting for Massena, so by “hostile” I meant the largest opposing crowd Mamaroneck has ever faced. One of the biggest keys was that Mamaroneck got through the first period tied — Massena came out flying and seemed to feed off the energy.
As far as I could tell the crowd was loudly but positively supporting the team — sure they were chanting at Luke Glaser, especially in the second period, but it wasn’t anything he hadn’t heard at the Ice Hutch.
to Queensbury and JN- Queensbury is a very good team. But, New Hartford is better. New Hartford beat Masenna 6-1 the Tuesday after Pelham played a close game with, but lost to Masenna 4-2. I expect the Pelicans to win on Saturday, but have a much tougher time on Sunday.
Harold
Can one assume that there will be tickets and seating available
for everyone who makes the trip up to Utica?
Just changed the timestamps to reflect daylight savings time.
Also I wanted to get a player from each team Tuesday night, but Pelham is having its sports awards ceremony and the day of the show can’t be changed.
Tiger fan,
I think Utica seats over 3,500 and I’ve never heard of anyone getting turned away. I’ll make sure though, especially if Section 1 is playing Section 3 on Sunday.
I don’t think the Aud ever sells out for the states, even when two section 3 teams are playing. I remember once many, many years ago Rome Free Academy was playing Oswego in the D1 SemiFinals (back when there was still an at-large berth and you could have 2 teams from the same section both in the same final four). They are both section 3 teams and very local. While there was a loud and energetic crowd for both sides in that game, it still was not nearly sold out. Anyone who goes will get into the building for the game without a problem. Finding a hotel room without having to drive 15-20 minutes may be tough the longer you wait to book it, although with 2 of the 8 teams being West Genny & New Hartford (both local to the area) it may be a little easier to get a hotel.
Harold-
Isn’t this supposed to be a mandatory furloughed day off for you? According to that article you linked to, that incudes checking your emails. Does it not include blogging?
Not that we don’t want you around, we just don’t want you to get into trouble.
LoHud,
I appreciate the concern. Today’s a regular day off for me, the furlough will start Wednesday. I changed the wording in the post so it’s less confusing
i go every year it never sells out and it wont this year as far as hotels you can book the red roof inn right off the highway 5 blocks from the rink for $55 a night
Holiday Inn and Raddison are sold out. Not too many choices in Utica.
Hey Harold,
Sorry about the mandatory day off. It’s a tough economy out there. Maany friends have been out-of-work for a couple of months now.
I continue to pay my $19.50 monthly Journal News paper subscription. I hope that helps a little with the JN finances.
As much as I like the web, when reading a paper you force yourself to see other news items. A good way to become informed on topics that you ordinarilly would not seek out on a website.
Also, that is an unbelievable crowd number at Massena. It sounds like a great high school event.
Al
If you have ever been to Massena or many towns way upstate you will understand why they draw these kind of numbers to a event like this. NY State has so much disparity in lifestyle and living conditions. The further away you are from a large City with jobs the worse it gets. I am not bashing Massena there are great people and great family fans out there. However in tough economic times they get pinched even further as there are less and less places to work. NY State is vast but there is a huge amount of suffering going on way north of us. Just something to consider when we complain.
farrell and nyc chshl lose 8th straight (all
nychshl state game
http://highschoolsports.silive.com/news/article/-1746173271/canisius-drops-monsignor-farrell-in-nys-chsaa-a-hockey-championship/
all 8*
Not South…
I agree. NY upstate has great little towns that have been unfortunately affected by a a difficult economy.
What are the sections going to look like for next year or is it going to be the same like this year?
rangers- I don’t think they are changing the teams within the Sections. In Section One, under the guise of saving money, they are thinking of changing the leagues within our Section to promote play among teams located near each other. There has been a lot of debate about this. Centering mostly around two topics: (1) should the power league system remain and (2) if the Section abandons the power league system for hockey in favor of geography based leagues, should the geography be based on home rink or school location.
thanks…what teams who be in each league if they favor geography based leagues
Could anyone tell me why Burke Catholic is allowed to play
in the public states ? Could they be public with a name like that ?
It is up to each section whether or not they allow the Catholic schools to praticipate in states. Sections 1 & 6 are the only ones that don’t allow it, hence the Catholic state championship between the winner of the CHSHL down here and the winner of the Catholic championship up in the Buffalo area.
That is why you see teams like Burke Catholic, CBA of Albany, CBA of Syracuse, and Seton Catholic (until they folded their hockey program last year) participating in the state tourney.
Thank you Lohud. It seems to me it should be a statewide rule though, no ?
Massena crowd was really loud, but in a good way. When they lost that heartbreaker to Mamaroneck they just watched Mamk celebrate… no BS, they did not throw stuff on the ice or anything stupid. Their players while distraught, also lined up , shook hands, and showed great pride and sportsmanship.
The Massena rink was really nice.
As far as Utica is concerned… no way possible it will be sold out, only once have I seen it more than half sold out. Nobody should be concerned in the least that they will get shut out, they would let people sit on each others laps before they turned anyone away.
I think the statewide rule is that anyone can play in these tourneys. If you notice, there are different rules for each sport even within one section. Albertus Magnus plays in the public school leagues (although they don’t have hockey) as does Our Lady of Lourdes. And come to think of it, I believe JFK is actually JFK Catholic, and they do have a hockey team that plays in Section 1 (it is a merged team, but JFK stood alone for a few years before the merger).
While Fordham, Iona, & Stepinac play in the CHSHL, that is more of a New York City league that they are in because of their proximity to the Bronx than a separate league for Catholic Schools in Westchester.
Yah, thanks LoHud. I was wondering why we were playing a Catholic school.
wow… “Pelham’s coach called Marc Flory “as good a defensive forward as he is an offensive forward.” Queensbury’s coach said Flory “doesn’t play in the defensive zone.””
How is that the first line of an article about Pelham’s impressive win in the Journal News? You’d think the first line would be something along the lines of Pelham dismantled a very good team and went on to the frozen four spot. What’s the point of that quote anyway, to make the Queensbury coach look stupid? I mean, I’d hope we would all give more credibility to the opinion of the coach who has watched Flory play for the past five years than the opinion of the coach who just got lit up and embarrassed by that forward for five goals…
Anyway, what makes Flory, and other forwards like him so special is that they do come back to play defense, and still are able to dominate the game on a turnover, because of their ridiculous speed skating and stickhandling skills.
it’s the mustache, I am sure of it ! !
I hated that article, too. Not a celebration at all. And it ended with a paragraph about how Flory’s scoring record may not really be a record. Geez. What a downer!
Who cares what people say about Flory. He is a great player and fine person. Losing coaches and players don’t matter what mattersis he puts the puck in the net, plays both ways and is a great student and leader.
The point was’nt what the Queensbury coach said, the point was it was even in the paper. Pelham played another gritty smart game and thats what the story should have started with, watch the video that was posted above and 2 of the 3 goals Flory scored were on great passes from Mamone and hustle by Rivera. There was no hanging, a smart player like Flory getting open and a smart player like Mamone finding him. Enough said on the this lets worry about Burke and Niagra and see our boys do it.
Catholic Schools in state tournament.
I have to disagree with Lohud here.
Albertus Magnus H.S. and Kennedy H.S. are two catholic schools with athletic programs that fully compete in section 1 sports and state tournaments. Albertus has a fairly prominent basketball program that went to the County Center quarters and semi’s in both boys and girls basketball this year. And as we know on this board Kennedy has a hockey team, the Kennnedy/Putnam Valley merged team.
The difference between these catholics and Iona and Fordham, is that Albertus and Kennedy fully abide their programs to the rules and reg’s of the NYSPHSAA. This includes number of games played, scheduling, when seasons begin and end, recruiting, and classification size.
I’ll presume, but don’t know for sure, that Burke Catholic does the same in Section 9 and that Christians Brother Academy (CBA) does the same in the Albany area section for tgheir athletic programs.
Iona and Fordham belong to the CHSAA and they abide by the rules of that governing body for their sports programs. In order for these schools to join section 1 hockey, all their other sport programs would need to be in section 1 also.
All though this would be good for the hockey team, you probably could not convince the school AD’s that it would be beneficial for the football and basketball programs. And these are usually considered the premier sports in those schools, with the CHSFL (football) and CHSAA basketball leagues being considered the 2 premier leagues in the state for those two sports.
Lohud..re-read your posting and we do basically agree why the Catholic schools play or don’t play in the state tournaments. Nevermind.
AL-
Are you saying that those two leagues are considered the best in their sport for the entire state ? Or ct the top at least ? That is impressive. You are right, it hurts the hockey and it also hurts lax.
Yes. The CHSFL (football) and the CHSAA (basketball) are generally considered the top leagues in New York State for those sports.
If Iona and Fordham wanted to join section 1 for hockey and lacrosse, they’d have to bring their football and baskeball (and baseball teams) into the section also. I don’t think th admin’s of these schools would want to do that.
Plus, I know that a large pct. of Fordham student body comes from Westchester, but it’s Bronx location would make it a difficult fit for section 1..(bring in the Mount and St Ray’s too!)
If Flory is a wing he is going to be up high in the defensive zone covering the attacking point men. If he is a Center and he is up high waiting for pucks to pop out then there could be further discussions assuming this is not what the coach is asking for.
I imagine the Queensbury Coach had to hold one of his D men out of his attacking zone giving his offense less control of the offensive zone. Obviously you can’t let someone like Flory get behind your defenders or its 1 on 0’s all night long.
I am sure Flory plays the game exactly as Ed Witz wants him to play because a kid with this kind of talent will adapt to what is required of him. The comment was more of Sour Grapes rather than an assesment of MF. The kid will have so many choices going forward both in hockey and in his education. I am glad to see it for him, for Pelham and for Hockey in General. In a world where athletes behave poorly and arogant this kid and many others playing HS Hockey exhibit what is right with this sport. Go Pelham!
Frustration rears its ugly head in Queensbury. Inability to stop #21 and then the slow sure death of skating the puck into Pelhams bermuda triangle in the neutral zone only to see it get softly dumped back into Queensburys corners. That is what set the coach off, once behind his team could not do a thing excpet skate it into Pelhams waiting arms, lose the puck then have to skate back in to get it. Sour grapes is a perfect description. My advice to Mr Williams of Queensbury, do not get behind against Pelham
You would think the next team to play Pelham will double team Flory and shadow him… unless they are as stupid as Queeensbury. Someone else on Pelham will have to step up. Burke is on par with Pelham talent wise… nobody should underestimate them just because they have no history of good hockey. Remember, they did beat up Salmon River 4-0, that is no small feat.
Burke Is a solid team only 4 losses. Will be a good even match. Other teams have tried shadowing Flory but his speed matched with his strength makes it hard. My opinion of Pelham is that they are a smart and clever team and they will find new ways to win if they need to. To get as far as they have with wins over Suffern and two wins over White Plains and a good showing in all games up state against teams like Massena and missing Emerson they are solid too
Hopefully both Mamaroneck and Pelham go up the Friday night before their games start on Saturday. I was extremely surprised that Mamaroneck traveled on a 7-hour bus ride the same day that they played the State Quarterfinal game. I mean I can understand that maybe the school wanted to cut cost by not booking hotel rooms for Friday night, but I mean a 7-hour trip and then playing a state quarterfinal game??? Come on. Both teams should go up Utica the night before and be well rested for Saturday.
Pelham plays 10AM which is a crazy time for these kids, I would hope they go early Friday or even Thursday after school.
Mamo is going up friday early afternoon and is skating at the rink sometime friday early evening.
Pelham is going up Thursday night, practicing early friday and then playing early saturday.
al bundy or anyone else who’d know,
could iona/fordham go “club” in one sport, such as hockey, and remain chsaa in everything else? isn’t that what st. mary’s in manhasset does? (i know they are chsaa b/c they play in chsaa in basketball and i presume everything else…except hockey)
Harold- we don’t know much about the suffern 92 team. Will there be something about them since they are being inducted in to the hall of fame? Sounds like they were really good. I wasn’t even born then!
Seventhman…I believe the answer is “yes”. Iona could leave the CHSHL (hockey), go independent for hockey, and remain in the CHSFL (football) and CHSAA (basketball).
Iona would not go that route as they would feel a sense of obligation to the CHSHL. Iona is not interested in becoming a hockey Prep school. They are building young men in the teaching of the Christian Brothers and Edmond Rice. Hockey and sports is part of the package but not the package. They are education young men for their lives future. I would strongly doubt the board and trustees would ever go in that direction regardless of the talent that Turnbull had showup from last years win. Plus when you look at both teams performance this year you will see they are where they belong.
Not South…I agree. There is nothing wrong with staying in the CHSHL. Fordham, Farrell, Chaminade and St. Anthony’s are quality teams to play. An “independent” Iona would probably still schedule these teams anyway.
After the league obligated schedule is complete their is plenty of season left to play other teams.