Snowstorms Freeze out Scheduled Games

 The record snowfall in January has made life difficult for high school league commissioners, athletic directors, coaches and student-athletes throughout the region.

 The multiple postponements and in some cases cancellations of sports events have put a burden on ADs and coaches to find open dates to complete their schedules before their leagues start holding tournaments and the start of the CIAC state tournaments later in February.

Al Carbone, commissioner of the Southern Connecticut Conference, which oversees athletics for 22 schools, acknowledges the strain on coordination and scheduling that the weather has caused.

“First of all, I've been in this job for seven years and this is the most challenging month we've had," Carbone said. "Now that we are getting close to the end of the season we have the SCC tournaments approaching fast. We have fixed times on those tournaments. This week, I've fielded concerns from athletic directors whose teams may have to play three or four games a week now. Is it something I'm concerned about? Yes. However, we will address it.”

"They have to be prepared to play at any time," Cheshire boys hockey coach Jim Riccitelli said. "It is what it is and days we can practice we go to the rink, we work on what we have to and you just have to keep it simple. Everybody's up against it. You're confined to a certain date that you have to finish your season by and if you have to play three games in a week, which we're probably going to do until the end of the season, then that's what you have to do.

"(The re-scheduling) is a hassle but the rinks we work with, especially Northford, have been very good," Riccitelli added. "One game we've re-scheduled three times, the Hand of Madison game. That one's good (February 17 at Northford) and we've got Guilford on Monday (another re-scheduled game) and we'll be on par with what we should have had."

Despite the weather's crippling effect on transportation, in many instances -- as the old adage says -- the show must go on. Many town's school systems continue to practice and possibly even play on days when the weather is far from pleasant.

“Some schools continue to play based on the rules in the individual school systems," Carbone said. “Not every town gets the same amount of snow, or deals with snow removal in the same way. Some schools will look to cancel events while the opponent they have may want to play it. This is where we have to come in and coordinate.”

Most teams such as Cheshire's can't practice on days when their school is closed. And that can have an effect on athletes as well as the schedule-makers. Swimmers in particular need to build continually throughout the season toward the state meets at season's end.

"I wish I could tell you (about the effect), I don't see them enough," Cheshire boys swimming coach Fran Connolloy said with a laugh. "I haven't seen them since Monday, it was the last time we practiced. But absolutely, it definitely is a difficult sport to have time off. The body really gets into a rhythm and around this time of year, end of January into February, you're trying to do the most consistent, best, highest volume and highest intensity training you can do for the longest amount of time.

"The thing that makes it an even playing field is that I'm pretty certain that almost all of the high school teams are going through a very similar thing," Connolly added. "It's not like there are a half-dozen teams getting a leg up on us. We're all in the same boat. It's pretty challenging for the kids to keep their form, keep their fitness, start and stop it. It's much better when you have some continuity."

Keeping student athletes mentally focused can be a challenge as well. The Cheshire boys swim team had the added adversity of losing the use of the Cheshire Community Pool for its home meets and practices when its inflatable bubble enclosure collapsed in an early January snowstorm, forcing the closing of the pool until at least May.

"I think it's hard (mentally) to drop it and pick it up again," Connolly said. "I think the kids get frustrated a little bit. But we're all dealing with this and attitude is the one thing you can determine and regardless of the things we can't control, I encourage the kids to come in and be aggressive and get right after it. Even if it does have an effect, I don't really allow them to go too long with that as an excuse. In a season like this where we've had a lot of things (to deal with), bubble collapse and so on. It's easy to start to feel bad for yourself and I don't think that's going to help anybody."

The winter athletics season still has quite a few games left to be played and mother nature shows no signs of throwing in the towel.

"I was listening to West Haven coach (Joe Morrell) in an interview the other day and he said his team, along with my team, we've played nine games in 47 days," Ricchitelli said. "We're going to probably play more than half of our season in the next four weeks."

“Here we are,” Carbone said. “Late January and there's still more snow to come. Right now we are victims of the weather. We can only do what we can. What comes first is the safety of students, the kids going to the games, parents, coaches, referees and all our personnel. That's what we address before any scheduling demands. It's been a challenge and it will continue to be a challenge with the weather we're having.”