PBL = R(ochester)BL?

I feel like I need to say something - OK, a lot of things - about all the drama this week surrounding the Premier Basketball League and it's apparent impending demise.

True, the Vermont Frost Heaves are no longer a part of the league - or any league, for that matter - but still Frost Heave fans have continued to follow the 2011 season and its ups and downs, particularly for those teams that picked up Frost Heaves in the dispersal draft following the organization's decision to fold earlier this year.

For the third time in four years, the Rochester RazorSharks won the championship. Yes, Rochester is a good team (Vermont snapped a ridiculous home winning streak of theirs, though, lest we forget!) and for sure deserved to be in the playoffs. The league became increasingly more competitive as the season progressed, and other teams, namely the Quebec Kebs, came on very strong.

I admit, I was not one of those Vermont fans - I can say fan now, they don't "exist" technically - who continued to follow the league results. We just had too much going on with our 17-plus high schools and the small detail of Norwich playing in two frozen fours and one national championship. But, thanks to Facebook, I was able to take a cursory glance here and there, and for the most part, it was disgusting. Honestly.

Check the Rochester papers, the Saint John (New Brunswick) papers, (if you can read French, read the Quebec City papers), and others who covered the PBL teams to the finish line. It's Exhibit A as to why people who own/run leagues at this level should not also own/run teams.

A friend of mine, a Frost Heave fan who bleeds blue and white to this day, wrote on my Facebook wall stating that we Vermonters thought our problems were diminished when we switched from the ABA to the PBL. Sure, a lot of things were better. The competition, above all else, was the most obvious change. The stability of teams in the league was also better, and thankfully the silly 3D rule was eliminated (Really, it reduced the game to toy basketball. They might as well have played with Nerf balls, moving rims and obnoxious on-court antics).

But at the same time, the rules were bent. When the Puerto Rican team threw a fit last season and was subsequently tossed, giving Vermont a playoff berth, days later that berth was revoked and magically the Capitanes were re-instated. No-tolerance policy for whatever they were kicked out for in the first place, and then what? 

When Vermont folded, then-head coach Joe Salerno said he felt the worst for his players. The same can be said in this case. Most of these players play for the love of the game, but at the same time, it's their job. They have families to provide for and futures to work toward. Apparently, they aren't the only ones playing games.

I wish the Maritime teams (Saint John, Halifax, Quebec, etc.) luck in wherever they end up playing - clearly they need to keep playing, and minor league basketball fans should want the same thing. These organizations were well-run and did what all teams are supposed to do throughout the course of a season: improve.

I just hope when they play next year, the sandbox isn't as obnoxious as this one turned out to be.

-Anna Grearson 

Sisler starts off college career strong

Harwood's Luke Sisler, a freshman at Hamilton College, has been doing well in his first collegiate season this spring as a member of the Hamilton men's lacrosse team.

A standout at Harwood who went on to a prep year at St. Paul's School, Sisler is currently sixth in scoring with seven goals and one assist. One of those goals was a game-winner. He has also racked up 11 ground balls, one of 13 players on the roster to post double-digit ground ball counts.

He scored twice in Hamilton's loss to Union last week, which is how I found out about his first-year successes. It clearly pays to look through to spam filter folder before deleting it all - random emails from Sports Information departments tend to end up there.

He's also the lone Vermonter on the team.

-Anna Grearson

Vermont 802 Stars come home stars

Many thanks to Gary and Jeannie Gosselin for keeping me informed from the rink in Anaheim, Calif. over the past week as the Vermont 802 Stars girls U19 Tier-II competed in the USA Hockey National Championships.

The team, which has five girls from the Spaulding varsity team and is arguably the best group of girls hockey players this state has to offer, finished third, falling in double overtime 5-4 to the eventual-champion Alliance Bulldogs.

Apparently, the team could've - and should've - gone further, finishing as at least national runners-up. The semifinal game featured not one but two penalty shots - the game-winner being the second. Even I, who admittedly knows very little about hockey, knows that two penalty shots in one non-NHL game is bizarre.

Still, the Stars represented Vermont well, and knocked off several teams who thought Vermont would be an easy win. Congratulations, girls.

It's just the latest national spotlight for Vermont hockey. Both Norwich teams recently competed for a national title, with the women capturing their first-ever crown and the men looking to add to their haul. Next weekend, Amanda Pelkey is slated to compete with the women's national team and in doing so is vying for a spot on the final roster. In the words of U-32 girls and boys hockey coach Dave Pickel, hockey in central Vermont is "living large."

-Anna Grearson