Division II just got a little deeper. Sleepy Hollow/Irvington has declined in enrollment (not sure which school is at fault) and are now in Division II. Goalie Dylan Lacey and top defenseman Craig Halpin are gone, but barring transfers, pretty much everyone else will return to the Legends, who went 16-4-2 and tied White Plains last season.

Here’s the official enrollment numbers for the upcoming year. Remember, even if the state votes to standardize division alignments state-wide (right now each section can do it however they want), it wouldn’t take effect until the 2010-11 season.

Division I (15 teams)
New Rochelle 2558
North Rockland 2159
Mount Pleasant 1829
White Plains 1737
Lakeland/Panas 1561
Nyack/Tappan Zee 1494
Rye Town/Harrison 1349
Mahopac 1298
Eastchester/Tuckahoe/Bronxville 1216
Carmel 1160
Clarkstown South 1155
Clarkstown North 1150
Suffern 1139
Scarsdale 1090
Mamaroneck 1088

Division II (14 teams)
Somers/North Salem 1055
Sleepy Hollow/Irvington 1053
Ossining 1046
Yorktown 1033
Fox Lane 988
Greeley 981
John Jay 964
Kennedy/Putnam Valley 913
Brewster 905
Pawling/Dover 765
Rye 646
Pearl River 638
Byram Hills 604
Pelham 568

Also, here are the tentative tournament dates. (update 5/29: The dates have been moved back one day, and Saturday is now a make-up day)

First round
DI Sunday 2/21
DII Monday 2/22

Quarterfinals
DI Tuesday 2/23
DII Wednesday 2/24

Semifinals
DI Thursday 2/25
DII Friday 2/26

Finals
DI and DII Sunday 2/28

Regionals
DI and DII Saturday 3/6 at Section 1

State semifinals and finals
Saturday 3/13-Sunday 3/14

I hope to post later this week after the scheduling committee meets and determines what they’re doing about league play this year (how many times around the league, and whether there will be mandatory crossovers).

The hockey ADs met at BOCES today and made it official — hockey will be using the new conferences, without any changes. Here they are again:

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

Somers and North Salem are actually in different conferences, but the team was put with Somers since it had more representation on the team.

Before today’s meeting, the coaches voted 100 percent against the new alignment. The ADs met today to decide whether to ask the athletic counsel — which actually has the power to change things — to leave hockey alone. But the ADs voted “a lot to a little,” in the words of chairman John Orlando, not to pass it along.

“They said all the arguments were good and academically sound — competition, safety, travel,” Orlando said. “They said, ‘We can pass it but it’s not going to pass (the athletic counsel). We’ve been told that for a fact.’ They felt it was like beating a dead horse.”

Apparently the counsel, which consists of superintendents and principals, was worried it would open up a Pandora’s box, since every other sport would then ask for exemptions.

Here’s what’s next: The conferences will meet on May 4 to determine whether teams in each league will play each other once or twice (round-robin). I would be shocked if the ADs vote to only play once, since having only five league games on a 20-game schedule would defeat the supposed purpose of realigning in the first place. 

During the meeting they will also determine crossover scheduling. If it’s anything like girls lacrosse (which I’m currently covering), the teams in each league will be seeded, with the top teams from each league playing each other (for example, Suffern-Mamaroneck-Mahopac-Rye) and on down the line.

Next, a seeding committee will determine how postseason seeding will work for all sports next year. There will not be a hockey-only system. Again, in girls lacrosse seeding is only done by league record and assigned crossovers (yes, a team in an easier league could have a better record and will be seeded above a better team from a harder league).

Some more notes — as of now, the 29 Section 1 teams will all stay the same for next year. No new programs or mergers. Also, the Division I sectional champion will host Section 6 (Buffalo area), while the Division II champion will host Section 2 (Albany area).

Also, the Division I and Division II alignment will stay the same as last year. Same 16 teams in Division I and 13 teams in Division II. There is a state meeting later this week, and there’s a proposal to have uniformity across the state — any programs over 1,000 in Division I, under 1,000 in Division II. But even if this is passed, it won’t take affect until the 2010-11 season. The numbers will change before then, but programs that could be affected include Somers/North Salem (1,049), Yorktown (1,029), Greeley (1,021) and Ossining (1,001), who would all move from DII to DI.

The suspense has been building for long enough. Congratulations to Matt Willows, the Rockland athlete of the season, and Marc Flory, theWestchester/Putnam hockey player of the year. And here’s the “all-star” team for Westchester/Putnam and the “all-county” team for Rockland. 

There were only six programs in Rockland, so I held a coaches meeting and we selected the team democratically. There wasn’t a big enough conference table in Westchester, so I called all the League 1 coaches and a selection of coaches from Leagues 2, 3, 4 and the CHSHL and compiled the results.

One quick disclaimer — the teams are selected based on the 2008-09 hockey season. Not career or travel accomplishments. With the unprecedented success of Section 1 this year — two state finalists, 14 all-state selections, and lots of parity throughout the leagues — it was a very difficult process, but that’s good — it means there were a lot of outstanding seasons to consider.

New Rochelle native Kevin Shattenkirk will be representing the Hudson Valley Thursday in the NCAA Division I Frozen Four. The Boston U. defenseman will face Vermont at 8:30 p.m. in Washington D.C., and the winner will play either Bemidji State or Miami (Ohio) in Saturday’s championship.

Colleague Josh Thomson has the details in Monday’s paper. I believe no area player has won a DI title since Suffern’s Jon Foster and Denver won back-to-back in ‘04-’05.

Shattenkirk, a sophomore who was drafted 14th overall by the Avalanche in the 2007 NHL draft, was recently dubbed “The Six-Million Dollar Man” by BU’s student newspaper. 

He has seven goals and 19 assists for 26 points, and his plus-26 rating is second on the team. The Hockey East coaches recently picked the 5-foot-11, 190-pound righty as second-team all-conference. 

(Photo of Shattenkirk on the U20 national team courtesy of Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)