The Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference, which governs high school athletics, has announced changes in the high school swim and diving championship postseason, specifically with changes for the location and times for next season's high school diviing championships. The CIAC Class S and LL meets will be on Nov. 6 at Middletown High and Bulkeley High, respectively. The Class M and L meets will be Nov. 7 at Middletown and Bulkeley, respectively. For the meets at Middletown, warm-up will begin at 4 p.m. with competition starting at 5:30 p.m. At Bulkeley, warm-up begins at 3 p.m. with competition beginning at 4:30 p.m. There will now also be a coaches meeting 30 minutes before the start of the meet. The State Open diving championships will be November 15 at Middletown with warm-up beginning at 4 p.m. and competition at 5:30 p.m.

On Thursday the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference, which governs high school sports in the state, published its post-season podcast and yours truly was one of three guests with moderator and CIAC spokesman Joel Cookson. I spent about 20 minutes breaking down the CIAC boys and girls lacrosse tournaments (interview done just prior to the girls quarterfinal round games). Dave Ruden of the Stamford Advocate is another guest and tells the story of a generous baseball player and talks softball and baseball and Timothy Gaffney of Litchfieldcountysports.com breaks down the top teams in his region. Here is the link to the podcast:
ciacsports.com/site/?p=3182

The previews for the spring sports debut in Saturday's editions.

Could the CIAC golf season move to the fall? The state golf pros would like to see that. It may not be easy. Pictured above is Notre Dame-West Haven golfer Eric Austin.

On Sunday, check out Mary Albl's track story on phenoms Precious Holmes and Henry Wynne of Staples.

Lacrosse debuts on Monday, softball on Tuesday and baseball Wednesday, the day the spring season officially opens.

If you have a story idea for the spring season, email high school sports editor Joe Morelli at jmorelli@nhregister.com.

The second CIAC Bowling Championship at AMF Circle Lanes in East Haven on Saturday beginning at 10 a.m..

Thirty teams will be participating in the event with combined boys and girls teams competing for the championship. The teams with a maximum of 10 competitors will face off in a 10-game Baker format in which each bowler participates in two frames to accumulate a team score. Teams will be made up of all boys, all girls, or a combination, and liberal substitution rules will be allowed during the competition.

Admission to the event is free The first Bowling Championship was held last year at Bradley Bowl in Windsor Locks with Windsor Locks earning the title over Enfield. Nearly 140 students took part in that event.

In January, due to a reduced number of boys’ hockey teams from 67 to 57 since 2006, the CIAC Ice Hockey Committee decided to make some adjustments to its hockey division format. The proposal included going to an elite 12-team Division I format with the remaining teams split between Division II and III and initiating a new best-of-three series for the D-I championship round.
On Thursday, the Ice Hockey Committee submitted a revised proposal to the CIAC Board of Control who approved it. When it was all said and done, the only major change to the divisions was guaranteeing a minimum 16 teams for each postseason tournament.
Through this season, only teams with a winning percentage of 40 percent or better could qualify for the tournament, which is why only nine teams qualified for the current Division III tournament. Starting next season, for tournament qualification all teams with a winning percentage of 40 percent or better will qualify for the tournaments. But in a division where fewer than 16 teams meet the 40 percent qualifying standard, a full bracket of 16 teams will be achieved by qualifying teams with the next highest winning percentages.
When the proposal to go to a 12-team D-I format with a best-of-three series final was first proposed, there was mixed reaction among coaches. A meeting with the coaches and the Ice Hockey Committee on Feb. 3 to discuss the proposal and get input from coaches made an impact with the Ice Hockey Committee’s proposal.
“It is true that the original proposal we shared with our coaches on Super Bowl Sunday morning (Feb. 3) offered a 12-team Division I and larger Divisions II and III,” said Tom Neagle, chairman of the CIAC Ice Hockey Committee. “This proposal reflected a willingness on the CIAC's part to allow sports committees to have "unbalanced" divisions, something we had been directed not to do in the past.
“The original proposal served a very important role. It generated thought and discussion among the (Ice Hockey) Committee members, our coaches and our officials. Our Committee listened carefully to what our coaches said and they said keep the 16-team Division I bracket intact and keep three divisions. As an educator, I was pleased to see all of us in the "hockey fraternity" express our opinions in an articulate and respectful fashion.”
Neagle said the Ice Hockey Committee heard from first-year coaches and those who have been on the bench for decades.
“If anything, the discussion that took place that Sunday morning at the CIAC was one of the proudest moments during my tenure,” Neagle said. “The math is pretty simple. With 57 teams, we are unlikely to qualify 48 teams (three divisions of 16) for our tournament unless we dip below the 40 percent standard. The Board of Control's approval of our proposal (on a two-year trial basis) represents a significant shift in thinking that will be carefully observed by other sports committees.”
For Milford boys’ hockey coach Sal Follo, who also serves as the coaches’ CIAC liaison as a member of the Ice Hockey Committee, the important thing was to maintain a three-division format. There was also concern that a best-of-three series in D-I would make players want to transfer to D-I teams to get the exposure those extra games would provide.
“There will be no best 2-out-of- 3 championship series and we will keep the three divisions,” Follo said. “I believe that at the CIAC hockey committee meeting with the coaches the committee listened to the coaches who were loud and clear when they said they more or less wanted to keep everything the same with no changes. So the committee put a proposal together with the input of the coaches and passed it on to the board of control for approval. The coaches voices were heard, which is a good thing and I am happy for that.”
It should also be noted that the division distribution for the next two seasons will be formulated by considering the regular season results and tournament success over the previous two seasons.

Several CIAC state tournament games were postponed Thursday to Friday due to inclement weather.
In boys' basketball, the Class L division game between No. 16 E.O. Smith at No. 1 Trinity Catholic will be at 6 p.m. while another L game, No. 15 Middletown at No. 2 Woodstock Academy, will be at 7 p.m. In Class S, No. 25 Weaver at No. 9 Woodland will be at 6 p.m. Friday while No. 13 Haddam-Killingworth at No. 4 Terryville and No. 14 East Hampton at No. 3 Granby are at 7.
The Class S second-round game featuring No. 10 Wamogo and No. 7 Kolbe Cathedral will be held Saturday at 7 p.m. at the Shehan Center in Bridgeport.
All other games tonight are still on as scheduled except for the Class S game between No. 12 Nonnewaug and No. 5 Old Lyme, which has been moved up to 5 p.m.
Friday's Class LL game featuring No. 10 Bridgeport Central and No. 2 Hillhouse will be held at Wilbur Cross due to the CIAC cheerleading state finals being held Friday and Saturday at the Floyd Little Athletic Center. Friday's game time is still to be determined.
In girls' basketball, today's Class LL quarterfinal between Danbury and Lauralton Hall has been moved up to 5 p.m., as has No. 11 Ansonia at No. 3 Haddam-Killingworth in Class S. All other Class LL and M games are still on for 7 p.m. as scheduled.
In boys' hockey, the CIAC Division III game between No. 1 Newington-Berlin-Manchester and No. 8 New Fairfield-Immaculate is now Friday at 6:30 p.m. at the Wonderland of Ice in Bridgeport. Also, No. 4 Hall-Southington vs. No. 5 Masuk is now Friday at 7:15 p.m. at the Northford Ice Pavilion.
The Class LL and S diving championships have been postponed. Class S will now be Friday at East Lyme while Class LL will be Monday at Middletown. Start time for both meets is 5:30 p.m.

What a rough night on Tuesday with my predictions in the first round for the CIAC Division II boys’ hockey tournament.
Three of my final four predictions –Amity, Hand and Milford - were eliminated.
Ouch!
Fortunately the team I picked to win the championship, Branford, is still alive and kicking. The Hornets ended up with a 4-0 win over Fermi/Enfield/East Granby/Stafford.
The biggest surprise was top seed Amity losing 2-1 to No. 17 Newtown. This win by Newtown certainly gives all lower seeds hope in all three divisions, showing us all that anything can happen, especially when you face a hot goalie.
It was a tough finish to the season overall for the Spartans who ended up 2-5 in their last seven games including the regular season. Scoring was an issue for the Spartans with three of the losses by one goal.
No. 10 Hand, with goalie Chase Briggs carrying the team on his back with over 40 saves in the game, looked like it was going to hold on to a slight 1-0 lead against a strong No. 7 Northwest Catholic in the first round . But a third period goal and another in OT gave Northwest Catholic a 2-1 win.
I’m not so surprised about No. 6 Guilford defeating No. 11 Milford 5-3. That was one game I figured could go either way. But I did predict that whoever won that game would at least advance to the D-II semifinals.
Lastly, apologies to North Branford who I failed to mention in my hockey predictions. Any time you have an outstanding, speedy scorer like Dylan Podbielski on your team you are always going to be competitive. The Thunderbirds actually have a lot more than that going for them with talent front to back.
I predicted the SCC would dominate Division II and I’m sticking to that prediction. My adjusted Final Four now has Branford, North Branford and Guilford with No. 2 East Catholic in the Final Four. I still think Branford has the motivation and talent to win the title.
Here is a link to my original tournament predictions - http://bit.ly/1012TiM.

Here are links to my other pre-tournament hockey stories/predictions/Top 10 Poll:
http://bit.ly/XKsWe3
http://bit.ly/XKm8Nv
http://bit.ly/14oyfjZ
http://bit.ly/14oNGsx

As the predicted storm of the Century approaches with potential snow accumualtions of 10 inches to two feet between Friday afternoon and Saturday afternoon, the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference Indoor Track Committee is monitoring the situation with the CIAC Class LL boys/girls indoor track meet scheduled for Friday at the Floyd Little Athletic Center in New Haven and the Class L and S boys/girls indoor track meet scheduled for the same site on Saturday.
If postpooned the meets could be moved to Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.
Here is the CIAC's oifficial statement on the storm:

http://bit.ly/XSoxnG

The CIAC Ice Hockey Committee's plan to restructure the boys' hockey divisions in an effort to save the sport's third division has become a hot topic among the state's coaches, players and parents.
Yours truly has been invited by George "Coach" DeMaio to appear on his Saturday morning radio sports talk show at 7:35 a.m. on 960 WELI to discuss the new plan that calls for an elite 12-team Division I format. The show is also streamlined at 960WELI.com.
You can read my update story with reaction from coaches plus my own personal analysis of the issue at the links below:

http://bit.ly/X3pJXg

http://bit.ly/14RNhlw

The CIAC Ice Hockey Committee met on Sunday with boys’ high school hockey coaches to discuss the reorganization of the sport's three divisions and 40 of the 57 state coaches attended.
Because the number of hockey teams have gone from 67 to 57 since 2008, the Ice Hockey Committee is trying to find a way to keep the three-division setup. The CIAC is favoring going to a 12-team elite Division I group of teams with the remaining teams split up into an equal number of Division II teams and Division III teams.
"We listened to different proposals from the coaches and their concerns,” said Milford coach Sal Follo, who represents the state’s coaches on the CIAC Ice Hockey Committee. “The most important thing for all of us is to keep the three divisions.
“The coaches had their say today and it was a very productive meeting. What it comes down to is tweaking what was presented by the Ice Hockey Committee (12-team elite division). Nothing definite was decided today and the Hockey Committee will meet to come up with a final proposal to present to the CIAC Board of Control (Feb. 28) for their approval.”

Here are today's baseball and boys' lacrosse CIAC state tournament schedule and postponements (through 1 p.m.):

Today’s schedule/postponements
Baseball


CIAC quarterfinals


Class LL


No. 8 East Hartford at No. 1 Greenwich, 4 p.m.

No. 5 Ridgefield at No. 4 Shelton, ppd. to Sunday, 3 p.m.

No. 18 Southington at No. 7 Amity, ppd. to Sunday, 1:30 p.m.

No. 6 South Windsor at No. 3 Bristol Central, 7 p.m.

Class L

No. 24 New Canaan at No. 16 Hand, ppd. to Sunday, 4 p.m.

No. 21 Sheehan at No. 4 Waterford, ppd. to Sunday, 3 p.m.

No. 23 New London at No. 2 RHAM, ppd. to Sunday, 3:45 p.m.

No. 27 Law at No. 3 Fitch, 3:30 p.m.

Class M

No. 9 Haddam-Killingworth at No. 1 Montville, ppd. to Sunday, 3 p.m.

No. 12 Ansonia at No. 4 St. Joseph, ppd. to Sunday, 2 p.m.

No. 10 Weston at No. 2 Ellington, 4 p.m.

No. 14 Goodwin Tech at No. 11 Plainville, ppd. to Sunday, 3 p.m.

Class S

No. 24 East Catholic at no. 1 Northwest Catholic, ppd. to Sunday, 2 p.m.

No. 13 St. Paul at No. 5 Cromwell, ppd. to Sunday, 2:30 p.m.

No. 10 St. Bernard at No. 2 Derby, ppd. to Sunday, 3 p.m.

No. 14 Terryville at No. 11 Westbrook, ppd. to Sunday, 3 p.m.


Boys’ lacrosse


CIAC Quarterfinals


Class L

No. 9 Xavier at No. 1 Simsbury, 3 p.m.

No. 13 Staples at No., 5 Fairfield Prep, 3:30 p.m.

No. 10 McMahon at No. 2 Newtown, 4 p.m.

No. 6 Glastonbury at No. 3 Ridgefield, 4 p.m.

Class M

No. 8 Masuk at No. 5 Darien, 3 p.m.

No. 7 Guilford at No. 2 Avon, ppd. to Monday, 4 p.m.

No. 11 North Haven at No. 3 New Canaan, 3 p.m.

Class S

No. 8 Ledyard at No. 1 Barlow, 3 p.m.

No. 5 Stonington at No. 4 Weston, 3 p.m.

No. 6 Somers at No. 3 Old Lyme, ppd. to Monday, 5 p.m.

No. 7 Bethel at No. 2 Granby, ppd. to Monday, 2 p.m.

The CIAC has released its pairings for the girls' lacrosse Class L, M and S tournaments and some local New Haven area teams appear poised to make a long post season run.
In Class L, Cheshire is the No. 1 seed and has the talent and depth to get to the championship game this season led on offense by Maria Blois, Emma Farrel, Kathleen Kallbian and Alyssa Hague among others. But it won't be easy for the Rams in the upper bracket who could potentially face No. 8 Ridgefield in the quarterfinals and No. 4 Staples in the semifinals. No. 2 Newtown and No. 3 Greenwich are the top challengers in the lower bracket.
In Class M, defending champion Darien, the No. 9 seed, is the is the team to beat. The Blue Wave have five losses but they are the result of one of the toughest schedules in girls lacrosse in the state.
No. 1 New Canaan, No. 3 Wilton and No. 6 Barlow are the top challengers for the Blue Wave.
Hand, led by goalie Christy Forrest, and Guilford, led by high scoring Riley Smith and Leigh Rooney, have the talent to advance in Class M. But Hand would have to get by New Canaan and Darien just to get to the semifinals.
In Class S, Shoreline Conference powers No. 1 Haddam-Killingworth and No. 12 North Branford have a solid shot to get to the championship game, but only one could do it since both would potentially meet in the semifinals. The Cougars are led on offense by Kiley Anderson and the Thunderbirds are led by high-scoring Emmy Dulak.
The top challengers for the Shoreline teams are No. 2 Granby and No. 3 Weston.

The CIAC released the pairings for the Class L, M and S boys' lacrosse tournaments and one noticeable item is Cheshire being in unfamiliar territoy - in a qualifying round in the Class L tournament.
No. 16 seed Cheshire, 8-10, hosts No. 17 Simsbury today (Friday) at 7 p.m. in the qualifying round game.
The Rams haven't had a complete team until recently with several players out due to injury and sickness. But the Rams have gotten healthy at the right time and should get to the first round where they would potentially face top seed Simsbury on Wednesday at Simsbury at 4:30 p.m.
The Rams have the talent front to back to pull off an upset or two. The wildcard could be goalie Will Devine who has talent.
Fairfield Prep and defending champion Ridgefield, both  among the top five in the Register's Top 10 poll all season, are the teams to beat in Class L. Ridgefield recently had a huge win against No. 1 ranked Darien (competing in Class M). Prep will be facing Hand today at 3 p.m. in the Southern Connecticut Conference final at Branford High.
In Class M, Darien is on a mission to win it all and will likely take no prisoners. The Blue Wave have nearly a dozen players headed to Division I-II colleges led by Case Matheis, ranked the No. 1 rectruit in the nation this season. Matheis has committed to play at Duke.
Locally, Guilford and Hand have the best shot to advance far in Class M but both are in very difficult brackets.
In Class S, Barlow, Weston and Granby are the teams to beat. Weston, ranked No., 10 in the Register's Top 10 poll the last two weeks, has the depth on both ends of the field to win it all.
Locally, Old Lyme and Notre Dame-Fairfield could pull off an upset or two in the first two rounds.

The annual CIAC High School Scholar-Athlete Banquet is Sunday at 5 p.m. at the Aqua Turf in Southington.
The Scholar-Athlete Program annually recognizes two high school seniors - one boy and one girl - from each member high school whose academic and athletic careers have been exemplary, personal standards and achievements are a model to others, and possess high levels of integrity, self-discipline and courage.


 343 students are being honored. The complete list of honorees by school can be found at:


http://www.casciac.org/schath/

Meghan Pattyson-Culmo, a former UConn Womens' Basketball player and coach and current sports announcer and lobbyist, will be the keynote speaker.


For more information contact Stephanie Ford at 203-250-1111 or sford@casciac.org.

By Chris Hunn, Register Staff
chunn@nhregister.com / Twitter: @Chris_Hunn

The CIAC is exploring the idea of adding another sport.

The CIAC announced Thursday it will be sponsoring a co-ed bowling tournament for member-school students on May 19 at Bradley Bowl in Windsor Locks. The event will help gauge if there is an interest or not.

“If it’s popular and kids are involved, we’re hoping to make it a CIAC sport in two years,” said Bob Lehr, a CIAC executive staff member.

Read more about next month's event.

Going through withdrawal because the CIAC state tournament has been pushed back a few days? Don't worry, check out our tournament outlooks right here!

Here are some things to look for in the CIAC boys' soccer tournaments.

Check out some things and players to watch in the girls' soccer tournaments.

Dan Nowak provides an outlook on the upcoming field hockey tournament.

Chris Hunn lets you in on a few things to look for in the girls' volleyball tournaments.

The CIAC tournament pairings will be released on Wednesday.

The Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference has rescheduled the remaining three divisional cross country championships and the State Open to Tuesday at Hammonasset State Park in Madison.
Also, teams in boys' and girls' soccer, field hockey and girls' volleyball will have until Saturday, an extra two days, to complete regular-season games to qualify for the state tournament.
The Class SS and S girls and the Class SS boys cross country meets were originally scheduled at Wickham Park but that facility is unavailable due to damage occurring during Saturday's snowstorm. The S girls will begin at noon, followed by the SS boys at 12:35 p.m. and the SS girls at 1:05. The boys State Open race will begin at 1:45 p.m., followed by the girls' race at 2:30.
The state tournament pairings for the other four sports will be released on Sunday.
"In the case of cross country and in soccer, volleyball and field hockey, we believe we have done everything possible to allow schools to complete their regular seasons while still holding fair and competitive tournaments," CIAC associate executive director Paul Hoey said in a statement. "We would hope that member schools whose facilities are available will help others whose facilities may not be so that as many games as possible can be completed by Saturday."

Saturday's snowstorm and subsequent power outages has postponed the remaining three CIAC cross country state meets on Monday and forced some of the Southern Connecticut Conference tournaments to be reshuffled.
The girls Class SS and S and the boys class SS meets at Wickham Park in Manchester have been postponed for a second time. The CIAC has not announced a makeup date and won't do so until Tuesday. Friday's State Open races at Wickham could also be in jeopardy because of the amount of snow the northern portion of the state received.
In the SCC, the girls' soccer quarterfinal matchups, No. 6 West Haven at No. 3 Amity and No. 7 Mercy at No. 2 Shelton, have already been moved from Monday to Tuesday at 3 p.m. and 6 p.m, respectively. The tournament semifinals are now Thursday at the site of the higher seed and the final is now Saturday at East Haven at 12:30 p.m.
The resumption of the SCC boys' soccer quarterfinal between No. 5 Career/Hillhouse and No. 4 Notre Dame-West Haven is still Monday at 3:45 p.m. at Veterans Stadium in West Haven. The game is tied at 1-1 with 29 minutes left. No. 6 Hamden at No. 3 Guilford is also on as scheduled at 3:45 p.m. Monday.
The semifinals have already been moved to Thursday and the final is at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at East Haven.
Monday's girls' volleyball play-in game between No. 10 Amity and No. 7 Mercy is now Tuesday at 3 p.m. in Middletown. The winner plays at No. 2 Guilford on Wednesday at 5 p.m. The other three quarterfinals will still be held Tuesday and the semifinals and finals remain Thursday (site of higher seed) and Saturday (North Haven) as scheduled.
SCC commissioner Al Carbone said the schools can decide to move semifinal-round games to Wednesday if need be, but semis for all sports must be completed by Thursday and the finals will remain on Saturday.
Here is the complete SCC schedule:

GIRLS SOCCER
Quarterfinals
Saturday
No. 1 Sacred Heart Academy 3, No. 8 North Haven 0
No. 5 Cheshire 1, No. 4 Guilford 0
Tuesday
No. 7 Mercy at No. 2 Shelton, 6 p.m.
No. 6 West Haven at No. 3 Amity, 3 p.m.
Semifinals
Thursday
No. 5 Cheshire at No. 1 Sacred Heart Academy, 3 p.m.
Shelton/Mercy winner vs. Amity/West Haven winner - time TBA
Championship Game
Saturday
at East Haven High, 12:30 p.m.
BOYS SOCCER
Quarterfinals
Saturday
No. 1 Cheshire 1, No. 8 Hand 0 (2 OT)
No. 5 Career/Hillhouse at No. 4 Notre Dame - Suspended, tied 1-1 (29:08 left in 2nd half) - will resume Monday, 3:45 p.m.
No. 2 Fairfield Prep 2, No. 7 Shelton 0
Monday
No. 6 Hamden at No. 3 Guilford, time TBA
Semifinals
Thursday
Guilford/Hamden at Fairfield Prep - 3:45 p.m.
Hand/Cheshire winner vs. Career/Notre Dame winner - time TBA
Championship Game
Saturday
at East Haven High, 10:30 a.m.
GIRLS’ VOLLEYBALL
Play-in round
Saturday’s results
No. 8 North Haven 3, No. 9 Foran 0
Tuesday
No. 10 Amity at No. 7 Mercy, 3 p.m.
Quarterfinals
Tuesday
No. 8 North Haven at No. 1 Cheshire, 6 p.m.
No. 6 Sacred Heart Academy at No. 3 Shelton, 6:30 p.m.
No. 5 Sheehan at No. 4 Branford, 6 p.m.
Wednesday
No. 10 Amity/No. 7 Mercy winner at No. 2 Guilford, 5 p.m.
Semifinals
Thursday
at higher seeds, TBA
Championship
Saturday
at North Haven, 6 p.m.
FIELD HOCKEY
Quarterfinals
Tuesday
No. 8 North Haven at No. 1 Cheshire, 3:45 p.m.
No. 7 Sheehan at No. 2 Guilford, 3:45 p.m.
No. 6 Mercy at No. 3 Hand, 6 p.m.
No. 5 Hamden at No. 4 Branford, 3:45 p.m.
Semifinals
Thursday
at Guilford, 4, 6 p.m.
Championship
Saturday
at Guilford, 2:30 p.m.

In the CIAC Class L girls' lacrosse semifinals, Claire Feeney had four goals and an assist to lead Greenwich to an 11-6 win over Cheshire.
In the Class S girls' lacrosse semifinals, the Haddam-Killingworth-Weston game was suspended due to lightning. The game will resume Thursday at 3 p.m. at Sheehan High in Wallingford with Weston ahead 12-7 with 1:27 left in the game

Claire Feeney has three goals and Sannon Colligan a goal and four assists to lead No. 6 Greenwich to an 8-3 lead at halftime over No. 2 Cheshire in CIAC Class M tournament semifinals at Bunnell in Stratford.
Alyssa Hague, Kathleen Kalbian and Jess Sudock have scored for the Rams.
Unfortunately, no Tweeter access at Bunnell.....