Heading To The Home Stretch

Now, after taking my Martin Luther King week off, I’m back. Let’s see, where did we leave off? Oh yeah, 3-2-E is wild and tight.

Some have expressed surprise by the margin of the Clinton and Whitesboro wins last week, both by 3-2 scores. I understand the reason for the question. Clinton has been rolling and should have bulled over RFA. New Hartford has been struggling and Whitesboro should have had no problem. To those who had similar thoughts…….oh, don’t you do it – don’t jump to conclusions.

Yes, the Warriors who wear Maroon and White have been and remain the hottest team in 3-2-E. Even though Boo Snyder missed an open net twice, something he’s still hearing about from his teammates, Clinton still has other dangerous scorers and plenty of unsung heroes. RFA is tough, very tough at home (probably the smallest slab of ice in the league). For the hottest team in the league to be pushed to a one goal win in Rome, not only is that no surprise – I wouldn’t have been shocked if the Black Knights took the win.

The Warriors who wear Blue and White have been the top of the league from the beginning of the season. OK, there was the 24 hours between Clinton’s win and their win over the Spartans when Whitesboro was a point behind the other Warriors. But, thanks to a 2-2 tie with New Hartford and their big win at the Clinton Arena, Whitesboro has been able to stay a point ahead of Clinton. Given that 2-2 score in their first meeting, the Whitesboro rematch with the Spartans was one many had their eyes on. New Hartford has that kind of “live by the sword – die by the sword” type of offense. Because it hasn’t clicked as often as it could, people have begun to write off New Hartford. That is a mistake. The Spartans are always a few good bounces away from running you out of the building and may well do that to one of the Big Four before the regular season ends. Should that happen, it will have a major impact on the post-season picture.

Let’s look at the Big Four for the remainder of the regular season and what it may mean for the playoffs. You’ll notice that each of the Big Four teams has four league games left on their schedule and each has two against Big Four opponents.

WHITESBORO – at Hamilton, home vs Clinton, home vs Westmoreland and at RFA. The January 31st game against Clinton is now the biggest game of the regular season. If the Blue Warriors win that one, they take the 3-2-E regular season title.
CLINTON – at Cazenovia, at Whitesboro, home vs Proctor and home vs New Hartford. The January 31st game against Clinton is now the biggest game of the regular season. If the Blue Warriors win that one, they take the 3-2-E regular season title. Did I just tell you that?
RFA – at Westmoreland, home vs New Hartford, at Hamilton and home vs Whitesboro. It would take a Whitesboro collapse and the Black Knights running the table to get RFA into first at the end…not likely with Hamilton and Westmoreland left on the Whitesboro schedule. Still, RFA should be able to make plans for the playoffs.
NEW HARTFORD – home vs Proctor, at RFA, home vs Cazenovia and at Clinton. Their tie with Hamilton haunts them a bit. RFA, Caz and Clinton are a tough way to end the season, but the Spartans should be in at the end.

The Whitesboro – New Hartford tie should prevent a first place tie, but just in case…here are the tie breakers:
1. Head to head record
2. Goal differential head to head
3. Goal differential in the league
4. Committee gets to vote

Now it gets exciting, as if it hasn’t been so far!

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