One game short
-
- March
- 16
”’Tis better to have loved and lost/ Than never to have loved at all.”
That saying (by Alfred Lord Tennyson) pretty much sums up the weekend in Utica for me — both teams are probably still hurting from coming so close to winning state championships (especially Mamaroneck, which held a 2-0 lead), but in the coming days they’ll appreciate going farther than any Westchester team had in 27 years.
In the long run, through tournament titles, playoff wins and player honors, they also improved Section 1’s credibility and visibility at the state level.
Here’s the story from Mamaroneck, who was four minutes away from being the first team to take the ice (thanks to a midnight opening practice) and the last team to leave it. Remember, other than Suffern ‘92, the other five state finalists from our area (Rye ‘82, Nyack ‘82, Suffern ‘88, North ‘02 and Pelham ‘09) lost by a combined score of 38-2, but the Tigers proved they belonged with the best teams in the state.
Meanwhile, Pelham held on as long as it could against a group that basically formed the Division II all-state team, and can console itself with the fact that it got farther than any sports team in school history.
And our columnist, Rick Carpiniello, joined me in Utica and wrote a great column that puts Section 1’s accomplishments in perspective. And Brett Jackson and Matt Hernandez are candidates for this week’s Gameface.
A special thanks to all the players from both teams who spoke with me afterwards and gave honest and thoughtful answers, minutes after their high school careers had suddenly ended. I’ve never been in that position so I can only imagine how tough that must be, but I definitely appreciated it. Also thanks to the 1,800 peopple who watched the live broadcasts on Sunday (which seemingly outnumbered the crowd in Utica), and to everyone who stopped by to say hello over the weekend.
We will have our final Varsity Central Live hockey edition Wednesday at 7:30, hopefully with guests from Mamaroneck and Pelham. I also be posting news from the all-section/all-league meeting that day. And this Sunday at 4 p.m. at the Ice Hutch is the exceptional seniors game. So stay tuned.
This entry was posted
on Monday, March 16th, 2009 at 4:57 pm by Harold Gutmann. 
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would you mind giving us your early predictions and favorites to come out of the section?
do you see section 1 can repeating their sucess next year?
Lots of talk about prep comings and goings and Junior A conflicts. Assuming all the underclassmen return (a big if) and no big transfers come in (another big if), here is next year’s top 15 for Section One teams:
1. Suffern
2. Mamo
3, WP
4. ETB
5. Rye
6. L/P
7. New Ro
8. Pac
9. Pelham
10.Scarsdale
11.Ossining
12.SHI
13.North
14.Brewster
15.South
Teams most likely adversely affected by defections -ETB and Pelham.
who is playing in the exceptional seniors game?
This weekend is U18 Tier II and III states. I would expect a bunch of the seniors will be upstate with their travel teams.
I think next year, some other teams besides Mamk and Suffern will have a more legit shot at winning the league and section. Pelham and Rye also are losing a lot of talent. Next year will certainly be interesting.
But then again, people always get excited and then it winds up being the same teams winning again in the end.
its going to be tough for pelham with all the seniors, kids playing club or prep hockey. we’ll see
here are some more pics from the mamk- greece game
http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/thumbpage.aspx?e=4595512
How close was the margin of victory in the TIger’s agonizing defeat?
Check out these pictures, including the freakish final goal. Oh, the pain.
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Site=A2&Date=20090316&Category=SPORTS080503&ArtNo=903160802&Ref=PH&Profile=1007&Params=Itemnr=17
Who is playing in the exceptional seniors game?