Leading off today: John Parks made a bit of a rookie mistake Saturday night, a faux pas you wouldn't expect from a 46-year-old pro athlete.
(Hey, who are we kidding? You wouldn't expect a 46-year-old to be a rookie to begin with.)
Parks, an assistant coach at Syracuse CBA, showed up for his first day as an emergency American Hockey League backup goalie in a sweat suit rather than the coat and tie specified in team rules.
"Rookie mistake," Parks told The Post-Standard. "There goes my salary right there."
In fact, Parks got $300 and an authentic game jersey for watching the Syracuse Crunch lose at home to Norfolk. He signed his first pro contract earlier in the day when the team found itself down to one goalie.
Tampa Bay goalies Ben Bishop and Anders Lindback were both injured in a National Hockey League loss to Ottawa on Thursday. The Lightning recalled Crunch goalies Cedrick Desjardins and Kristers Gudlevskis on Friday and started scrambling for replacements for their AHL affiliate. Tampa Bay signed Allen York to start Saturday's game for the Crunch and Grant Rollheiser of Brampton in the CHL was penciled in as York's backup. But Rollheiser had travel problems that kept him from getting into town in time.
That inspired the Crunch to reach out to Parks, who occasionally minds a net during the team's practices.
"I practice with these guys. I'm totally comfortable with it,'' Parks said. "Oh yeah. It would have been great."
Boys basketball: Greece Athena outscored Olean by 21 points in the second half to rally to an 82-72, non-league win in boys basketball Saturday. Sophomore Anthony Lamb finished with 24 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for the Trojans.
Athena, ranked 13th in the state in Class AA, avenged its only loss of the season. Olean is ranked fifth in Class B.
Zac DiSalvo scored 17 points for Athena. Will Bathurst led Olean with 36 points, including five 3-pointers.
A .500 weekend: It would have been asking a lot for the Manhasset St. Mary's girls basketball team to sweep its weekend basketball games, but their split was a decent performance.
Long Island Lutheran, ranked third in Class AA, topped No. 2 St. Mary's 56-45 on Sunday behind Katie Lavelle's 11 points and eight rebounds.
A day earlier, St, Mary's pulled out a 64-62 win at the Coaches vs. Cancer Showcase over St. John Vianney, consistently one of the top teams in New Jersey. Charlotte Renker had 13 points and hit a layup with four seconds left to win it.
Jordan Augustus had 26 points and converted a three-point play and two free throws in the final :28 for the Gaels.
"These girls are just starting to play a whole game," coach Tom Flynn told Newsday. "Vianney is a big-time team on the East Coast. We play a big schedule. Our 10 non-league games are against the best teams around."
