Leading off today: With apologies to Yogi Berra, it's starting to get late early for Section 2 ice hockey.
The section is engaged in a dispute with the Eastern New York Chapter of the National Ice Hockey Officials Association that has left approximately three-quarters of the available on-ice officials declining assignments.
A session mediated on Wednesday by NYSPHSAA Executive Director Robert Zayas did not yield results after four hours of discussions. It's even possible the sides are farther apart than they were a month ago.
"Unfortunately, the ice hockey officials made it very clear that they were more worried about how much money they would make than how much of an impact this would have upon the student athletes," Zayas told WTEN-TV, adding that the Albany-area hockey officials group is the only one of 269 officials chapters in a variety of sports across the state to not recognize a blanket agreement reached in August 2024.
(Read the specifics of the dispute's origins here.)
In the midst of its argument that the blanket agreement is likely invalid, the hockey officials sought an additional $15 per game. According to The Times Union, Section 2 offered a $10 raise -- only to see the officials come back with a request for $16.
The TV station's report said Zayas and a representative of ENY NIHOA remain open to continued discussions. However, the clock is ticking toward a hearing by the Officials Coordination Federation next Wednesday -- a meeting the ENY NIHOA does not plan to attend.
"It is a predetermined outcome wrapped in procedural clothing -- a kangaroo court," ENY NIHOA said in a statement Thursday. "Our chapter will not participate in a process that is designed entirely to validate the outcome NYSPHSAA already announced to the press. It is a charade, and we refuse to legitimize it by showing up."
If the OCF finds in favor of Section 2, the regional NYSPHSAA goiverning body could attempt to recruit unaffiliated officials to work games, though that's a small subset of candidates. Already, Section 2 has reached out to the New York State Congress of National Ice Hockey Officials Association Chapters to attempt to schedule crews from neighboring sections when available.
To that end, the Times Union reports that four games this weekend are expected to be covered by officials from Section 3.
Johnstown coach facing charges
Johnstown coach and special education teacher Scott M. Jeffers was arrested Thursday on allegations that he sent inappropriate messages to students,
The Times Union reported.
State Police charged Jeffers, 42, with endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor, after being notified by the district superintendent of reported allegations of "inappropriate communications between Jeffers and students."
Troopers charged Jeffers, who also holds a seat on the Johnstown Common Council, with child endangerment for communicating with a student younger than 17. They described some of the communications as sexual in nature and said he also discussed drug use and physical violence, the paper reported.
Neither Jeffers nor his attorney could be reached for immediate comment.
New era starts at Section 4's Newfield
At just 20 years old, Andrew Mendel is already in the win column. The first-year boys basketball coach at Newfield in Section 4 made his debut Wednesday with a 91-48 victory over Odessa-Montour.
Mendel was hired to take over from Kenny Herrera, whose Trojans went 13-4 in his only season en route to the IAC South Small Division title.
"There's a rich tradition of excellence in this basketball program, and the administration truly believes in the direction of the basketball program and where we want to take it," Mendel told Tompkins Weekly. "The kids are hungry to learn. The community really cares. It felt like a place where I could build something and make a huge impact not just on the court, but in the school and in the lives of the players."
Mendel is hardly going it alone in the program. Longtime assistant coach Ricky Stewart remains, and new JV head coach Donald Wainwright and a trio of recent former players volunteering at Newfield will work on player development across the program while Mendel focuses on getting the most from a 14-player roster.
A long-standing Section 8 record has fallen
With victories over Sewanhaka on Nov. 25 and Garden City on Monday, the Syosset boys swimming team has broken the Nassau County record for consecutive victories.
Syosset's streak, which began in January 2015, is at 90 meets, two better than the mark Plainview-Old Bethpage JFK established in the 1970s.
"It's a really special accomplishment," Syosset coach Mike Cipollino said. "It took years of dedicated swimmers and divers in order to make it happen. No matter what's on the line, we take every meet very seriously and always put our best effort forward. When we do that, we get good outcomes."
The Brighton controversy grows curiouser
We're all familiar with the claim that it doesn't take much for a prosecutor to get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich.
The education industry corollary is that a school board could put anything up for a vote and get it approved as long as "it's for the kids."
Well, residents in the Brighton School District in Section 5 are apparently having buyer's remorse after having given overwhelming approval almost two years ago to a capital projects proposition that included upgrading the athletic fields.
Work started this week in taking down some trees, and that has further infuriated some residents who recently started raising objections to the planned installation of artificial turf across multiple playing fields.
At a meeting on Wednesday, some residents went so far as to ask Brighton Superintendent Kevin McGowan to shut the project down pending a review. McGowan warned that suspending work at such a late juncture could cause months of delay and add hundreds of thousands of dollars to the cost.
"It would be easy to be disingenuous with you and say, 'We should think about that, we'll go back and then we'll let you know,'" McGowan said, according to the Democrat and Chronicle. "But I want to keep going back to the reality of how many people did vote for this."
For the record, the February 2024 proposition for $21.9 million in work across a variety of facilities passed by a 703-102 margin.
