LoHud Hockey Blog

 Scarsdale’s Ian Klein celebrates with James Nicholas following Nicholas’s third goal on the night against New Rochelle at The Ice Hutch in Mount Vernon Jan. 31, 2012. Scarsdale’s won 6-4.

This was sent to me by the folks at Don Bosco Prep:

Photo: (left to right) Brian McAleer, DBP Athletic Director; Jim Rahill, Coach; Greg Toskos, Head Hockey Coach; Andrew Steffey, Coach; (seated) R.J. Burns, Don Bosco Prep Class of 2011; Sean Foye, Coach.

R.J. is the son of Robert and Dawn Burns of Pearl River, New York.

I didn’t forget. I had to get up early and pick up my credential before heading over to media day. Again, not a busy day but the Scarsdale-New Rochelle game is pretty interesting. The Raiders ended their slide and could put themselves back in the conversation with a win tonight, but the Huguenots are winning every game they are supposed to win. Vincent Mercogliano will be covering that game.

There won’t be a player of the week post since I didn’t receive any nominations and I don’t have enough time amidst the Super Bowl run up to replay the last week and scrape up a worthy candidate. Sorry. If you want to see all the photos and random thoughts from Media Day out here, check my other Twitter page, @hoopsmbd. And it’s 60-something degrees out here, which makes me wonder, does Crooked Stick offer rental clubs?

Tuesday, Jan. 31
Scarsdale vs. New Rochelle, 6:30 p.m. at Ice Hutch
John Jay vs. Pawling, 7:30 p.m. at Trinity Pawling

Yesterday
Scarsdale 9, Mount Pleasant 1
North Rockland 4, RTH 2
Princeton Day 5, RCDS 2

No big shakeup this week, just a couple of tweaks. And do I really think Yorktown is better than Mamaroneck or Iona Prep or Clarkstown. No. But the Huskers do have a couple of wins against ranked teams – Mahopac and Brewster – so why not put them in?

LoHud Hockey Power Rankings
Week 9

1. 1. Suffern (13-2) – Don Bosco is the biggest remaining test
2. 2. Pelham (10-5) – Celebrating first league title since 1993
3. 3. Rye (11-2-1) – Hoping to make waves by toppling Pelham
4. 4. ETB (13-3) – Still haven’t been an upset victim
5. 6. New Rochelle (12-4) – The schedule is getting tougher
6. 7. Mahopac (13-4) – A good seed is guaranteed now
7. 5. Brewster (14-2) – Hurt by a lengthy layoff
8. 8. John Jay (10-4) – Kind of laying in the weeds
9. 9. RCDS (7-5) – Finally back at full strength
10. nr Yorktown (13-3-1) – Two wins against ranked opponents

Division I
1. 1. Suffern
2. 2. ETB
3. 3. New Rochelle
4. 4. Mahopac
5. 5. Mamaroneck
6. 6. Clarkstown
7. 7. RTH
8. 8. White Plains

Division II
1. 1. Pelham
2. 2. Rye
3. 3. Brewster
4. 4. John Jay
5. 6. Yorktown
6. 5. Pearl River
7. 7. Scarsdale
8. 8. Greeley

The stretch run for Section 1 programs is underway, but the pace really doesn’t increase until the weekend. A lot of teams have discovered the importance of getting into a rhythm heading into the playoffs, and have scheduled accordingly. I don’t see any important games tonight, although Scarsdale needs to end a six-game slide and regain some confidence before anyone sees them as a threat again. The Raiders have only completed nine games and are going to be on the ice a lot in the final 19 days of the regular season.

Leave a score if you’re out watching, please. I’m flying today, and will attempt to post the power rankings along the way or when I get to Indianapolis. If you want to follow along, my Twitter account for all things Super Bowl is @hoopsmbd.

Monday, Jan. 30
Rye Town/Harrison vs. North Rockland, 6:45 p.m. at Playland
Scarsdale vs. Mount Pleasant, 6:55 p.m. at Murray’s
Princeton Day School vs. Rye Country Day, 5:05 p.m. at RCDS

Yesterday
ETB 5, Stepinac 2
Hen Hud 3, Lakeland/Panas 2
Mahopac 5, Carmel 1
Mount Pleasant 4, Byram Hills 1
St. Joseph by the Sea 5, Iona Prep 1
Somers/North Salem 5, Kennedy/Putnam Valley 1

I see a pretty good rivalry game to close a busy evening at Brewster Ice Arena. Normally, you get a pretty good show when Carmel and Mahopac bump heads in any sport. The Indians are clearly having a better season, but the Rams have a couple of scorers, too, and a strong goal-tender. I’m packing for the Super Bowl, so leave a score if you’re out watching.

Sunday, Jan. 29
Ossining vs. Yorktown, 4:30 p.m. at BIA
Hen Hud vs. Lakeland/Panas, 6:10 p.m. at BIA
Kennedy/Putnam Valley vs. Somers/North Salem, 6:20 p.m. at BIA
Mount Pleasant vs. Byram Hills, 8 p.m. at BIA
Carmel vs. Mahopac, 8:10 p.m. at BIA
ETB vs. Stepinac, 8:30 p.m. at Ice Hutch
St. Joseph vs. Iona Prep, 5:15 p.m. at Ice Hutch

Yesterday
Pelham 6, Mamaroneck 0
Ithaca 3, Clarkstown 1
Somers/North Salem 5, Hen Hud 3
Yorktown 3, Mount Pleasant 2
Stepinac 2, St. Peter’s 2

Mike Dougherty
mdougher@lohud.com

LARCHMONT - The goals were coming so easily in the opening weeks of the season, Pelham clearly lost a desire to stand out defensively. And when this identity crisis resulted in a blowout loss to Suffern three weeks ago, the Pelicans quickly realized they had to again become a general nuisance.

It’s no longer an issue.

Pelham did not allow Mamaroneck to entertain thoughts of an upset for long, clamping down from the start and waiting for the offense to catch up in a 6-0 victory Saturday at Hommocks Park Ice Rink. The miserly Pelicans (10-5, 5-0) clinched at least a share of the Conference II title with the win.

“We started to stress defense more,” senior defenseman Graham Lambdin said. “Once we get the defense going, the goals start coming.”

That’s exactly how this one played out.

Nathan Mullaney had a 1-on-1 breakaway chance stopped by Pelham goalie Matt DeYoung, who got his third shutout of the season. A slap shot from Trey Herlitz-Ferfuson was stopped cold, too. Chris LeBlanc had a sweet chance outside the crease, but lifted the shot up and over everything.

Pelham forces an opponent to be well beyond precise.

“I think we’re a lot closer to where we want to be,” sophomore defenseman Will Cullen said. “We’re a lot better defensively, and Graham coming back helps us out a lot.”

Pelicans coach Ed Witz recently juggled the lineup, moving Lambdin to the blue line in order to provide more depth. He was the leading scorer at one point early in the season. Will Mac Innis slid in up front.

And since the 8-2 loss at Suffern, a refocused Pelham team has only given up five goals in seven games.

“We held Mamaroneck to 11 shots on goal,” Witz said. “We are getting to where we want to be. I think our difficult schedule is helping now. … Our kids are more comfortable with the pace of these games and they are playing well.”

The Pelicans were content to set up on the perimeter early on and only had a handful of quality shots in the first period.

Lambdin powered in a blast from the right circle four minutes into the second that started low and caught the blade of a stick before rising top left for a 1-0 lead.

“We need the first goal,” he said. “I’m not even sure it was my goal, but they gave it to me anyway. Mamaroneck was playing very hard, but once we got the first goal everyone kind of piled right on.”

Indeed.

Pelham owned the last five minutes of the period, controlling the puck like it had a man advantage. Cullen went around two defenders to increase the lead. Andrew Dzenis threw in another off the faceoff. Colin Reilly tucked one inside the far post. Andrew Schauer got one short-handed, then Mac Innis complete the outburst.

It was a blowout in a blink.

“We kept working hard and we kept it to a one-goal game except for those five minutes,” Mamaroneck coach Mike Chiapparelli said with a laugh. “Their defense is real good, and they did a good job keeping the puck in our zone. We couldn’t get it out.”

Both teams have big rivalry games coming up. The Pelicans visit Rye on Wednesday, while the Tigers (9-8, 2-3) play ETB on Friday and Suffern on Saturday.

It’s kind of a quiet Saturday with the exception of Pelham at Mamaroneck, which is always going to be a marquee game no matter who’s on the ice. Clarkstown and Ithaca could be a decent match up, too. I’m going to be at Hommocks looking for Bigby’s car, so check the Twitter feed in case there’s enough of a cell signal to provide updates. The game will end after deadline, so check the blog for a story. We’ll get a story in the Monday paper, as well. And then I’m on a short hockey hiatus. I’m going to be doing the blog from Indianapolis next week, and will get some help on this end from Brian Heyman.

Leave a score if you’re out watching.

Saturday, Jan. 28
Hen Hud vs. Somers/North Salem, 8:50 p.m. at BIA
Pelham vs. Mamaroneck, 8:15 p.m. at Hommocks
Yorktown vs. Mount Pleasant, 9 p.m. at WSA
Ithaca vs. Clarkstown, 9:40 a.m. at Palisades
St. Joseph vs. Fordham, 5:45 p.m. at Playland
Stepinac vs. St. Peter’s, 7:45 p.m. at Coney Island

Yesterday
RCDS 7, Iona Prep 5
Yorktown 5, Brewster 4
RTH 4, Fox Lane 0
Lakeland/Panas 5, Kennedy/Putnam Valley 2
Rye 9, Byram Hills 0
New Rochelle 6, North Rockland 3
Suffern 10, Ithaca 0
Clarkstown 6, Sleepy Hollow/Irvington 1
Nyack/Tappan Zee 6, Pearl River 6 OT

If you read this week’s notebook, you know about Ed Witz getting to 350 career wins. Here’s a short list of Section 1’s hockey gurus. It’s not gospel truth because record-keeping is sketchy at best.

John Orlando (Suffern) 456*
Mike Chiapparelli (Mamaroneck) 369
Ed Witz (Pelham) 350
Jim Tozzo (New Rochelle) 341

(* total includes Section 9 wins)

Put your pencils down. The midterm exams are over and we’re back to a regular schedule. We’ve got a couple of decent games starting with Iona Prep and RCDS, which are both going well now. It’s going to be physical and should be competitive because the Gaels do get up for these crossovers.

Brewster and Yorktown are opposites in terms of style, and this one could be interesting unless the Huskers stop grinding and try going stride for stride with the section’s most prolific offense. Pearl River is going for a hat trick against Nyack/Tappan Zee, but we’ve all been told how difficult it is to beat an opponent three times in a season. Suffern isn’t going to have any problems against Ithaca, which has won five in a row since Mamaroneck went up and dropped the Little Red to 2-7 at the end of December.

Friday, Jan. 27
Lakeland/Panas vs. Kennedy/Putnam Valley, 3:30 p.m. at BIA
RTH vs. Fox Lane, 5:20 p.m. at BIA
Brewster vs. Yorktown, 7:20 p.m. at BIA
Rye vs. Byram Hills, 9 p.m. at BIA
North Rockland vs. New Rochelle, 6 p.m. at Ice Hutch
Sleepy Hollow/Irvington vs. Clarkstown, 4:40 p.m. at Palisades
Nyack/Tappan Zee vs. Pearl River, 9:15 p.m. at Sport-O-Rama
Ithaca vs. Suffern, 7:15 p.m. at Sport-O-Rama
Iona Prep vs. RCDS, 4:45 p.m. at Rye Country Day

Yesterday
No games scheduled