Leading off today: After close to 30 years in the business of covering high school sports, I understand full well there's no such thing as the offseason when it comes to criticizing officiating.

   For instance, there were people upset with Sunday's Long Island Class AA state basketball quarterfinal, in which Half Hollow Hills West edged Elmont 79-75 in two overtimes. Elmont was whistled for 28 fouls, which seems a bit high, even for a two-OT affair. Three players fouled out in the loss and HHH West attempted 37 free throws to 13 for Elmont.

   But that's not really enough information to judge the officiating. Were the refs calling the game too tight or was Elmont playing too aggressively? You have to watch the whole game to start making an informed assessment of how well the officials performed; even then, you could probably put four observers in a room and come up with five different opinions.

   That's not so much the case, though, in the Williamsville East-Pelham hockey semifinal in Utica on Saturday. Williamsville East advanced with a 3-2 victory on what appears to have been a phantom goal 2:34 into the second OT.

   Pelham turned the puck over on an attempt to clear the defensive zone, and two Williamsville East skaters came alone on goalie Josh Borofsky. Cole Weppner fired a shot on goal and the puck seemed to hit the near post, cross the goalmouth and trickle into the corner to Borofsky's left. (View the play here.)

   It takes a leap of faith to believe the puck could have gone in the net and then slid harmlessly away the way it did; in fact, no goal light came on and skaters were still playing the puck. But the referee blew his whistle and signaled the puck was in. Game over.

   "I heard the puck go off the post and I got really scared," Borofsky told The Journal News. "I saw the play continuing on and I saw where the puck ended up. There's no way it went in the net."

   Hockey stars selected: Williamsville North senior goaltender Parker Gahagen was selected the Division I

Winter season bonus links Boys hoops: Road to Glens Falls, your all-purpose destination Boys hoops: Sectional tourney scores and NYSPHSAA brackets Girls hoops: NYSPHSAA brackets Boys hockey: NYSPHSAA brackets - D-I | D-II

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player of the year by the New York State High School Hockey Coaches Association.

   The Division II honor was shared by JFK/Putnam Valley sophomore defenseman Steve Santini and aueensbury senior forward Kevin Valenti, the NYSHSHCA announced ooverthe weekend.

   Bon Rosen (Williamsville North, Div. I) and Ed Witz (Pelham, Div. II) were selected the coaches of the year.

   Joining Gahagen as first-team all-stars in Division I were White Plains senior defensemen Connor Lawrence and Jack Peeples; Suffern junior forward Jake Jaeger; White Plains senior forward Dan Broderick; and Williamsville North junior forwards Jake Rosen and Scott Sims.

   The other Division II first-team picks were Webster Thomas senior goalie Joe DiRose; Salmon River junior forward Oakley Thomas; Williamsville East senior forward Matt Notaro; and Pelham defender Matt Landis and forward Colin Rielly, both juniors.

   Following up on indoor track: Add a couple of more individual champions from New York at the weekend's New Balance Indoor Nationals at The New York Armory. Averill Park's Rudy Wilson outdistanced the field in the weight throw with a toss of 74-2.25. Shoreham-Wading River senior Danielle Opatovsky won the mile racewalk in 7:14.72.