Saranac's Samatha Myers (24) drives the basket and gets the contact on the layup and gets the foul for the three-point play attempt. It would be the first game of championship weekend for section vii basketball from Clinton Community College. It would feature the #3 Ausable Valley Patriots and the #1 Saranac Chiefs for the Class B Girls finals. The game would get off to a slow start for both teams as it would be just an 8-4 Chiefs lead after the first quarter. In the second quarter, the defenses would still be the name of the game as the Chiefs would win the quarter 9-2 and take the 17-6 lead at halftime. When the teams returned for the third quarter the offense would come out of the locker room with them although the Chiefs would still be on top with a 15-15 quarter and take a 32-21 lead into the fourth quarter. In the fourth quarter, it would be more of the same as the Chief's offense would be the name of the game with an 18-9 quarter. As the Saranac Chiefs would be crowned the 2023 Section VII Class B Girls Basketball champions with a 50-30 win and with the win they will advance to the New York State Public Athletic Association Tournament and will take on the Section X representative next weekend. Gallery

Ausable Valley (10) takes it over a pair of defenders from Saranac for the score. Gallery

Saranc's Landon Giroux (17) comes in with the check on Beekmantown's Zach Lapier (19) as was he was looking to break in on the goalie. It would be the Section VII D2 Boy's Hockey championship from the Ronald B Stafford Ice Arena and it would feature the top 2 teams as the top-seeded and number 2 in the state Beekmantown Eagles would host the number 2 seeded and number 20 in the state Saranac Chiefs. Although there would be a wrinkle this year as luck would have it with the state tournament brackets both teams would be locked into the tournament so that there would be an even eight teams. With that being said both teams would be giving it their all though so they could have that sectional championship banner hanging from the rafters and the opening goal of the game would come three minutes in on the Sam Bingel goal to give the Eagles the 1-0 lead. Although the 1-0 lead would be short-lived as the Chiefs would answer right back 28 seconds later on the Ethan Barnes goal to tie the game at 1. The Eagles would come back though and retake the one-goal lead at 2-1 on Louis Sweenor's goal at the 8:44 mark of the period. With just over a minute left in the period the Eagles would take the 3-1 lead on Sam Bingel's second goal of the period. The game would stay there till the 9:05 mark of the second period when the Eagles would extend the lead to 4-1 when Keegan Seamone would light the lamp. Although the Chiefs wouldn't go quietly as Landon Duprey would score with 3:40 left in the period to make it a 4-2 game. Although as the period was ending Sam Bingel would score with two seconds left in the period to take the 5-2 lead into the third period. In the third period, the wheels would fall off for the Chiefs as they would give up four goals from Zach Lapier, Copper Burdo, Luke Moser, and Parker Pryce while the Chiefs would answer back with one goal from Nolan Miner as the Eagles would get the 9-3 victory. In the winning effort, Austin Dosier would make 28 saves as they advance to the New York State Division II Quarterfinals and will take on the defending state champions Pelham Pelicans on March 4th. While for the Chiefs Joey Mitchell would make 26 saves as they also head into the New York State Division II Quarterfinals and will travel to take on the Queensbury Spartans on March 4th as they look to head to Buffalo for the state final four the following weekend. Gallery

Beekmantown's Kegan Seamone (6) with the rebound goal on the scramble in front of the net. Gallery

Ausable Valley (3) rides up on the breakaway and lays it off the window for the score. It would be the semifinals of the Section VII Class B Girl's Basketball Tournament and it would feature the #3 Ausable Valley Patriots traveling to take on the #2 Plattsburgh Hornets for the right to head to next weekend's Section VII title game. The game would start off well for the upset-minded Patriots as they would have the 22-13 lead as they end the first half of the game. When the teams returned for the third quarter the Patriots would keep their hot hand going with a 13-7 quarter and take a 35-20 lead into the fourth quarter. In the fourth quarter, the Patriots would finish off the upset victory with an 11-8 quarter and get the 46-28 victory. With the win, the Ausable Valley Patriots advance to the Section VII Class B Finals and will take on the winner of the Saranac Chiefs and the Beekmantown Eagles at the Clinton Community College on March 3rd. Gallery

Plattsburgh's Ava Weiss (13) with the three from the elbow over a stretched-out defender for the score. Gallery

Saranac Lake-Lake Placid's Btaden Munn (31) with the pad save as Saranac's Zach O'Connell (88) breaks in looking for the opening goal. It would be the semi-finals of the Section VII Boy's Hockey Playoffs and we would have the #3 Saranac Lake-Lake Placid Lakers traveling to Plattsburgh to take on the #2 Saranac Chiefs for the right to head to the Section VII Championship on February 27th against the #1 Beekmantown Eagles. It would be a great game between two evenly matched teams that would split their two regular-season meetings with both teams winning on their home ice. Neither team was willing to end their season on this night and they would end up going through the whole regulation game time without either team scoring. So then in accordance with the Section VII playoffs rules they would play a regular length period in overtime with the first team scoring being declared the winner. In that period the Chiefs would get the game-winner 5:27 into the overtime when Nolan Miner would score on the scramble in front of the net off the rebound to give the Chiefs the 1-0 win. In the winning effort, the Saranac Chiefs would advance to the Section VII Championship as Joey Mitchell would make 31 saves as the Chiefs go to 12-7-2 on the season. Gallery

Saranac's Joey Mitchell (30) with the stick save as Saranac Lake-Lake Placid Carson St. Louis (11) would break and Mitchell would keep his 31-save shutout in tack. Gallery

Northeastern Clinton's Lucas Hemingway (13) takes it around Beekmantown's Louis Sweenor (55) as they pass the blue line into the offense zone. It would be the semi-finals of the Section VII Boy's Hockey D2 playoffs. The #1 Beekmantown Eagles would be hosting the #4 Northeastern Clinton Cougars who advance to the semi-finals earlier in the week with a win over the Plattsburgh Hornets. The winner of this semi-final match would advance to the Section VII Championship on February 27th against the winner of the Saranac Chiefs and Saranac Lake-Lake Placid Lakers game. The game would start off well for the home Eagles as they would get the opening goal of the game just 29 seconds into the game on the Luke Moser goal. The Cougars would come right back though and tie the game up at the 5:41 mark of the period on the Marcus Bedard goal. The Eagles would keep swinging and take the lead back at the halfway mark of the period when Zack Lapier would light the lamp and give the Eagles the 2-1 lead. The Eagles would be able to expand their lead to two goals at 3-1 at the 14:11 mark on the Sam Bingel goal and that's where the first period would come to an end. When the teams returned for the second the Cougars would score 3:50 into the second to make it a one-goal game at 3-2 on the Willie Simpson goal. Although the one-goal game would be short-lived as Luke Moser would answer just 68 seconds later to make it a 4-2 game again. Then with just over a minute left in the period Eagles Sam Bingel would get the second goal of the game to send them into the locker room with a 5-2 lead. The Eagles would extend their lead to 6-2 on the short-handed goal at the 10:10 mark of the third period when Zack Lapier scored. Then in the final four minutes of the game, the Eagles would add three more goals from Lee Jarus, Louis Sweenor, and Keegan Seamone as they would get the 9-2 victory. In the winning effort, Austin Dosir would make 26 saves on the night as the Eagles advance to Section VII Championship and the Northeastern Clinton Cougars season would come to end at Gallery

Beekmantown's Lee Jarus (9) with the rebound that he puts in the open net past Northeastern Clinton's Peter Judkins (1) for the goal. Gallery