The Hudson Valley ESG hockey team will be looking to medal for the third straight year when the Empire State Games get underway Thursday in Binghamton. Western has won eight straight gold medals, while HV is looking for its first. Since the competition began in 1982, HV has four silvers and four bronzes.

There's a [...]

I know it's been a while since I last posted, but now is as good a time as any to come back. Not one, but two former Section 1 players were just drafted into the NHL by the San Jose Sharks yesterday—Suffern twins Justin and Drew Daniels. Justin was picked in the third round (62nd [...]

League 1
John Jay
Mahopac
Mamaroneck
Pelham
Rye
Rye Town/Harrison
Suffern
White Plains

League 2
Brewster
Clarkstown North
ETB
Mt.Pleasant
North Rockland
Scarsdale
Yorktown

League 3
Byram Hills
Clarkstown South
Fox Lane
New Rochelle
Ossining
Pawling
Somers/No Salem

League 4
Carmel
Greeley
JFK/PV
Lakeland/Panas
Pearl River
Sleepy/Irv
TZ/Nyack

Moving up: White Plains to League 1, North Rockland and E/T/B to League 2, New Rochelle and Somers/North Salem to League 3
Moving down: Clarkstown North to League 2, Fox Lane to League 3, Lakeland/Panas to League 4

League 1 [...]

Mamaroneck is now officially the favorite to win League 1 next year, receiving 31 votes in our first poll to finish ahead of Suffern (23), Pelham (12) and everyone else (12).

Why not, with two returning Journal News All-Stars in defenseman Sean Hagan and goalie Luke Glaser, five of the top six forwards (first-liners Christian [...]

Great to see how many people are still on board. As a reward, you get to participate in the first high school sticking poll (see bottom right). Hopefully this is the first of many I'll have throughout the year.

Don't forget the league alignments come out in a few weeks, followed by next year's schedules, [...]

At long last, The Journal News Westchester/Putnam all-star and Rockland all-county teams are here. There were a ton of great candidates to choose from, which is a good problem to have but still led to some very tough decisions. In Rockland, I polled every coach. For Westchester/Putnam, I talked to every League 1 coach and [...]

There's a good chance that the number of rinks in Section 1 will shrink by one before next season. Cappelli Enterprises, which owns New Roc City, is trying to lure Target and Kohl's, and would close the ice rink (and other entertainment venues) to make room for the department stores. I'll post my story as [...]

I've heard the rule is to drop the bottom team and bump up last year's champion. That would leave us with this:
League 1: Suffern, Mamaroneck, Pelham, Rye, Rye Town/Harrison, John Jay, Mahopac, White Plains
League 2: Clarkstown North, Yorktown, Scarsdale, Brewster, Mount Pleasant, North Rockland
League 3: Fox Lane, E/T/B, Ossining, Pawling, Clarkstown South, Lakeland/Panas, New Rochelle
League [...]

The rescheduled senior all-star game will be tomorrow night at 6 p.m. at the Ice Hutch. The format will be Rockland/Northern Westchester vs. Southern/Central Westchester. Rosters are still being finalized, but I expect it to be a great show, considering how many incredible seniors there were this year. Again, I have no idea who will [...]

Just wanted to let you know that you can win $10,000 from Lohud.com if you fill out a perfect NCAA tournament bracket. Here is the link. And here are some clues: Georgetown, UNC, UCLA and Texas. We're still working on a Frozen Four contest.

Just heard from Pelham coach and Ice Hutch rink manager Ed Witz that the exceptional seniors game, originally scheduled for Sunday night at 6:30, has been postponed. Something about the paperwork not being submitted on time.

It is tentatively rescheduled for Saturday, March 29 at 6 p.m. at the Ice Hutch, pending Section 1 approval, [...]

Here are the all-league sections, which are selected by the coaches from that particular league. It appears to be formula-based: four picks for the winning team, three for the runner-up, two for the middle teams and one each from the bottom three. Then honorable mention for two players from each team.

A few things I [...]

Because it's never too early to think about next year. Big news is that there is still no outbracket, and in the state quarters the Division I winner must now travel to Section 10 (state champ Massena?), and the Division II winner will travel to Section 2 (top-ranked Queensbury?) It also looks like everything was [...]

Eight players from Section 1, including three from Suffern and two from Mamaroneck and Rye, were honored as all-state selections Sunday in Utica.

G Tom Natoli of Suffern and D Sean Hagan of Mamaroneck were on the first team. F Brian Conner of Mamaroneck, F Zach Salt of Suffern, D Andrew Ojeda of Suffern and [...]

Not sure if this makes Mamaroneck and Rye fans feel better or worse, but state quarterfinal opponents Massena and TI both advanced to the championship game yesterday. Here are the details from Utica.

Massena, scoring three goals in a 1:20 span of the second period, beat a depleted Lancaster team 5-3, and TI lost a [...]

It's hard to boil down all the moments from a season that started on Thanksgiving weekend and didn't end until March 1, but here's my attempt. Love to know your thoughts and if I left anything out.

1. Mamaroneck wins Division I title

Alright, I was going to go from 10 to 1 but what's the [...]

As part of an effort to get more hockey in the paper, I wrote another "behind-the-scenes" weekly feature on something unique to the sport—high school rivals who are also travel teammates. The story is here. You might remember a previous story that focused on the crazy hours hockey players keep.

I was always impressed to see [...]

I have to admit, I never thought the season would be over on March 1. Especially not when Mamaroneck was up 2-1 and Rye was up 2-0. But the unpredictability that make playoff hockey so exciting—the fact that each shift, each shot, yes each call, can turn a game—turned against our teams, and now the [...]

Matt Supernault scored 29 seconds into overtime to give Massena a 3-2 win over Mamaroneck in a Division I state quarterfinal tonight at Hommocks Ice Rink.

Brian Conner had a goal and an assist for the Tigers, who end the season 23-4-1.

Massena plays Lancaster on Saturday at Utica in the state semifinals.

Update: Rye lost its state [...]

I spent Friday at the County Center watching four Class A semifinal basketball games, and I can sum it all up in one word: Blowout. Or six words: The exact opposite of playoff hockey. The scores were 58-37, 79-47, 61-51 and 57-44.

So I'm glad to get back to the rinks, where I expect [...]