News & notes

Back on the beat after being off the last three days. Time to catch up on some recent news.
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LaSalle bounced back from a Friday loss to Queensbury to beat the winless Capital District Jets, 3-2, on Saturday night. Kyle McGee made 26 saves in the win. LaSalle squared their record at 3-3-1 going into today's first round game in the Mohawks tournament at Union College vs. Rye-Harrison, which is underway as this is being written.

What I neglected to mention, though, in recent reports, is there've been some cosmetic changes to the rules in the CDHSHL. Each period is now 17 minutes, not 15 as in past years, and minor penalties, which had been for 90 seconds in recent seasons, are now 2 minutes each, just like in the college & pro games. That, I think, would mean that major penalties would now be 5 minutes in the penalty box. Is it a coincidence that these changes coincide with the return of Albany Academy to the CDHSHL? We'll see.
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Speaking of bouncing back, Troy High's women's basketball team snapped a 2 game losing streak, both in Suburban Council play, by picking up another non-league win Saturday, beating Middletown, 44-22, on the road. Jenalyse Alarcon led Troy, now 4-4 overall and 2-4 in the league, with 15 points.

However, when league play resumes on January 4, Troy's schedule will still be brutal, as they'll host Shenendehowa to start a three game homestand that also includes Columbia (January 8) and Schenectady (January 11), before starting a road trip in Kingston on January 12. We know Kingston has a tough men's team. Are their ladies as good? We'll find out in a little more than two weeks, but Kingston will return the favor and come to Troy on February 2.
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It has become the norm, not the exception, to have teams from outside Section II taking part in holiday tournaments. We see this every year in the Mohawks hockey tournament at Union.

That being said, Troy High's first round game in the Crusader Roundball Classic at Catholic Central on Friday sees them taking on Thomas Corcoran High out of Syracuse, while the host Crusaders renew a former Big 10 rivalry with Notre Dame-Bishop Gibbons. We should note that the two teams fuse together to form Holy Trinity in football.

The Crusader Roundball Classic remains a tradition at Catholic Central, despite the fact that Catholic Central's men's team is not what it was in past years. The Crusaders have fallen on hard times since prodigal son Chuck Mack left town, not long after his son, Anthony, decided to take the prep school route to college. Catholic Central is a second division club in the Colonial Council's Patriot Division, and we'll see how they'll fare on Friday.