Beyond the Scoresheet

NFL playoffs digression

Let me talk football for a moment. What a series of games the NFL had this weekend! Between my high school sports coverage, my Sunday soccer league and my occasional social life, I haven’t watched a ton of football this year. But I managed to watch three of the four games this weekend, and they were all terrific. The fourth one – Green Bay’s win on Saturday – was played in one of the crazier snowstorms in NFL history. Quite a weekend!

Tonight, I had arranged to DVR the Giants-Cowboys game and watch it later this evening with one of my old roommates, a Cowboys fan. Driving into my apartment complex, I caught a glimpse of a neighbor’s TV and thought I saw somebody in white being interviewed. So I spent the whole game thinking the Giants were going to lose, only to see them pull it out in the end! Holy crap! I still can’t believe the Giants won that game after being completely unable to stop the Cowboys for most of the game.

Having been in Texas Stadium when the Giants beat the Cowboys in the fall of 2006, I can appreciate just how quiet that place got and how big it was for the Giants to win a game in that rivalry. I’ve hated the Cowboys since I was a little kid and they got the best of the Giants every year, it seemed, after Super Bowl XXV. So it’s nice to be on the other side of that.

Now I just wish I could be at Lambeau on Sunday.

Rankings, Vers. 3.0 (Dec. 30)

Alright, here’s the next installment of some rankings. Still not a lot of clarity between 10 and 25.
I’m putting these out there for discussion and debate, not because I think they’re infallible or because I’m particularly attached to any comparisons. I’m also splitting public schools into their Public A and Public B classifications, as we will for the state tournament.

Read on for the njhockey.org Top 10s:

Continue reading Rankings, Vers. 3.0 (Dec. 30)…

My one day of hockey

Well, I got to watch my one game of New Jersey hockey for the year this afternoon. To be honest, I prioritized friends and family today, with no regrets. After doing these interviews (Part I, Part II) on SportsNet America this morning, I decided to skip the drive to Skylands. Christmas shopping, y’know.

So I went over to Mennen this afternoon and caught up with a bunch of old friends, which was totally worth it. I got a serious handshake from Pingry coach John Magadini (who remembers when I came up to about his waist) and his staff after Pingry’s 9-2 win over Pequannock. I caught up with former Morristown baseball coach Harry Shatel, a friend and mentor to me, and several other friends from the Morris County scene. I also hung out with Dan Breeman of the Daily Record, a longtime friend and colleague.

And I watched some hockey. Arriving at Mennen near the end of the Pingry-Pequannock game, I had been in the rink for about five minutes when I got hit by a loose puck. What are the odds? Had I been in mid-season form, I might have made the catch, but I have to admit I turned away and let it hit me in the side.
I also officially met Roxbury coach Jon Benbow for the first time, and I watched his Gaels beat Park Regional 4-1. Roxbury really dominated the game, and only some sick saves from Anthony White kept Regional in it. You have to think Roxbury is the class of the Haas/Charette Division at the moment, although no big scorers really stand out.

Being back at Mennen for the first time in almost two years … I really, really missed the place. I missed the skate guards and announcements and banners and, most of all, the faces. It was just great to be back watching New Jersey hockey, and it reminded me how much I really do miss it sometimes.
There are a couple games worth seeing tomorrow, notably Indian Hills-Northern Highlands, Cranford-Watchung Hills, Rumson-Red Bank and Clifton-Ridgewood, but I will probably not be able to make any of them due to family commitments. I hope everybody in the hockey community gets to spend time with their respective families this holiday season.

Thursday update

A couple of results from Wednesday games that are worth noting. First of all, and most importantly, East Side got a win! The Red Raiders beat St. Rose 5-4 on Thursday for its first win since beating St. Rose 7-1 on Feb. 1, 2006. Of course, that’s only about five games ago, since East Side did not field a team last year. Next time these teams meet (Jan. 14), I’ll root for St. Rose.

I also wanted to point out an article most people may have missed on Delbarton’s 6-2 win over two-time defending Rhode Island state champion Bishop Hendricken.

I’ll be flying back to New Jersey for a brief holiday stay on Friday night, which means Saturday will probably be my only day of checking out N.J. hockey games this year. Any suggestions as to where I should go?

Thursday update
Just to explain several updates to various schedules … I’m told Hackettstown and Hudson Catholic had five players EACH given game disqualifications in their Dec. 17 game. That’s from one skirmish, in which I’m told no punches were thrown, and both coaches were baffled by the referees’ decision. It happened in the first period, and Hudson Catholic played the rest of the game with only six players, total.

Due to mandatory two-game suspensions (which will also yield state tournament ineligibility for both teams) for roughly half of its players, Hudson Catholic has chosen to forfeit its next two games: Friday against High Point and Sunday against Dumont. Assuming my schedules are up to date, that could save Dumont from playing on three consecutive days, which it should be noted is NOT legal. Dumont, Nutley, and Parsippany are all teams in danger of playing three games on three days at some point this month. This is a violation of NJSIAA rules and has, in the past, been punished with forfeits.

Rankings, Vers. 2.0 (Dec. 16)

Alright, I’ve always said I needed two weeks to rank teams, so I guess it’s that time again.

I’m putting these out there for discussion and debate, not because I think they’re infallible or because I’m particularly attached to any comparisons. I’m also splitting public schools into their Public A and Public B classifications, as we will for the state tournament.

Read on for the njhockey.org Top 10s:

Continue reading Rankings, Vers. 2.0 (Dec. 16)…

NJSIAA posts public split

As you can probably tell, I’m fascinated by the state’s process in splitting the public tournament. The NJSIAA has posted the list of teams that will be classified as Public A or Public B. The list is available on Page 11 of this document (which always makes for interesting reading anyway).

I haven’t done a 100 percent cross-check, but here are a couple of things:

Woodbridge and JFK Iselin are on this list, but Monroe is not. Odd, considering Monroe fields a varsity team, and Woodbridge and JFK Iselin do not.

Co-ops are listed with the enrollment of one school (Whippany Park, Point Pleasant Boro, Tenafly, Jonathan Dayton, Verona) only. This leaves all five as Public B teams, when a combined enrollment figure would have pushed Point Pleasant, Tenafly and Park Regional into Public A.

I was originally told Nottingham would be Public B, but apparently the split has been amended to place Nottingham in the Public A classification.

I don’t know if these are mistakes or if the NJSIAA has reasons, but I really feel this should have (a) been fact-checked better and (b) been released much, much earlier.

MONDAY EDIT: I have been informed that the NJSIAA will likely re-release the list in the coming days, presumably with some of these mistakes corrected.

TUESDAY EDIT: The NJSIAA has added Monroe and fixed the enrollment of various co-ops. This led to me discovering that Pascack Valley and River Dell are both co-op teams. Why does nobody tell me these things? The only kink that remains involves Verona and WWPN. I’m trying to get it sorted out.

breaking down the public schools

I’m not going to pretend I don’t read the NJO forum, so I’m glad to see my rankings have stirred up such debate. And of course they’re not perfect. That’s the fun part.
Anyway, the thing I noticed most was confusion over which teams are Public A and which teams are Public B. So here’s the full list, with the NJSIAA enrollment numbers I have taken from the NJSIAA website:

Continue reading breaking down the public schools…