The Post-Star from Glens Falls, New York • 18

C6 Thursday. October 12. 2006 The Post-Star, Glens Falls, NX SPORTS NEXTEL CUP Bank of America 500 Concord, N.C. Lowe's Motor Speedway 1.5-mile quad-oval 24 degrees banking in turns Distance: 501 miles, 334 laps 0 scneauie: inursaay, 7 p.m.); Saturday, race (NBC, 7 pm) Last yean Jimmle Johnson won the UAW-GM Quality 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway despite a malfunctioning electrical system and the threat of a tire explosion. Next race: Subway 500, GRANDSTANDS Oct.

22, Martinsville, Va. ii AP SOURCE: NASCAR AUTO RACING THIS WEEE y. f. ICE. ASSOCIATED PRESS of Phoenix Coyotes' Mike Connie during the first period of their game on Detroit Red Wings' Mathleu Schneider, right, Wednesday at Detroit's Joe Louis Arena.

NHL NASCAR NEXTEL CUP Bank of America S00 Site: Concord, N.C. Schedule: Thursday, qualifying (Speed Channel, 7 p.m.); Saturday, race (NBC, 7 p.m.). Track: Lowe's Motor Speedway (quad-oval, 1.5 miles, 24 degrees banking in turns). Race distance: 501 miles, 334 laps. Last race: Brian Vickers stole his first Cup victory by nudging teammate Jimmie Johnson into race leader Dale Earnhardt then skirting by the two spinning cars on the last lap at Talladega Superspeedway.

The wreck dropped Earnhardt to a 23rd-place finish, Johnson to 24th and prevented either from making any gains in the Chase for the championship. Next race: Subway 500, Oct. 22, Martinsville, Va. Field Hockey Schneider's hat trick paces Wings Saratoga ekes out win Associated Press DETROIT Mathieu Schneider had three goals and an assist to lift the Detroit Red Wings to a 9-2 win over the Phoenix Coyotes on Wednesday night. Mikael Samuelsson scored twice, Pavel Datsyuk added a goal and two assists, Henrik Zetterberg and Jason Williams had a goal and an assist each, and Kirk Maltby also scored for Detroit.

Nicklas Lidstrom had three assists, and Niklas Kron wall chipped in with two. Dominik Hasek made 19 saves for the Red Wings. Schneider, in his 18th season as an NHL defenseman, recorded his second career hat trick. His other was last Nov. 26.

Mike Comrie and Ed Jovanovski scored for Phoenix. Former Red Wings goalie Curtis Joseph allowed seven goals on 29 shots before being replaced by Mike Morrison to start the third period. The Red Wings broke open a 2-1 game with five goals in the middle frame. Schneider scored his second at 2:10, and Williams had a power- making his first start for Carolina, had 26 saves. Florida, which beat Boston 8-3 in its opener, has scored a franchise-best 14 goals in its first two home games.

The Panthers' previous high was 10 in 1995-96. Canadians 3, Fryers 1 PHILADELPHIA David Aebischer stopped 27 shots, and Michael Ryder and Alex Kovalev scored goals to lead Montreal over Philadelphia. The Canadiens only needed regulation time to put this one away after opening the season with two straight shootouts. They split those, and now head home with two victories on their trip. Montreal owes this one to Aebischer, simply stellar in earning his second win of the season.

The Flyers couldn't slip one past on the power play, wasting all eight chances, including an 0-for-4 effort in the first period. The Flyers trailed 2-0 going into the third, but RJ. Umberger scored nearly 2 minutes into the period to energize the crowd. It had no impact on Aebischer. He stopped 13 shots in the third and kept the Flyers winless at home this season (0-1-1).

NASCAR BUSCH Dollar General 300 Site: Concord, N.C. Schedule: Friday, qualifying (Speed Channel, 5 p.m.), race (TNT, 8 p.m.). Track: Lowe's Motor Speedway (quad-oval, 1.5 miles, 24 degrees banking In Race distance: 300 miles, 200 laps. Next race: Sam's Town 250, Oct 28, Memphis, Tenn. FORMULA ONE Last race: Reigning world champion Fernando Alonso won the Japanese Grand Prix and heads into the season's final race with a lOpoint lead over Michael Schumacher, who dropped out on the 37th lap with a blown engine.

Next race: Brazilian Grand Prix, Oct. 22, Sao Paulo. Corinth (4-3, S-5) 0 0-0 Ooali Hnltti Jehmburf; 0.Svrchek 1-0, BlackhurstO-1. Shots Johnsburg, 13-12. Pmatty eeraan: Corinth, 8-6.

Cialu in Ordway (J) Mann (C) 11. Lake George 1, Hadley-Luzerne 0 LAKE LUZERNE Katie Paddock scored on a penalty stroke in the second half to give the Warriors the victory. l-l H4. (0-7, 0-7) o-o Lata Soon Paddock 1-0. Shots Lake George, 9-2.

Penary oemen: Lake George, 12-1. Goatee mhos Conway (LG) Lautenschuetz(HL)3. NON-LEAGUE Glens Falls 4, Ichabod Crane 0 QUEENSBURY Melyssa Woods scored twice and added an assist as the Indians won the non-league matchup. Sarah Rios made eight saves for the shutout. kn.

Crane 0 0-0 Want Fafe (13-1) 2 2-4 i Ms Pellatt 1-0, Woods 2-1, Callaghan 0-1. Shots Glens Falls, 22-8. PenaK oemen: Glens Falls, 134. Bialu moos Powell (IC) 13; Riot (GF)8. COLLEGE Skldmore 3, Hartwlck 1 SARATOGA SPRINGS Saratoga Springs resident Elise Britt scored her fourth goal of the season as Skidmore College; women's field hockey team, christened its new turf with three first-half goals en route to the victory over Hartwick.

Katie Weber scored on penalty shot and Meredith Peeke made one save in the win for Skidmore. Hartwte(4-7) 1 0-1 (9-3) 3 0-3 Hartwfefc Schilling 1-0. Sldowara: Britt 1-0, Weber 1-0, DeLea 1-0. Shots Skidmore, 16-3. Penalty ameni Skidmore, 5-2.

QioOn uaor King (H) 9. PeeM (S)l. it! WmMBM PostStar.com through the defense play goal with 9:41 left. The Red Wings then scored three times in a span of 1:48 late in the period. Schneider completed his hat trick with 3:31 remaining, Datsyuk scored at 17:55 and Samuelsson got his goal with 1:43 to go.

Maltby and Samuelsson's second goal came in the third period. Zetterberg opened the scoring for Detroit with a power-play goal 5:26 in. But Comrie tied it for Phoenix just 46 seconds later. Schneider gave the Red Wings a 2-1 lead with his first goal, which came with 6:12 remaining in the opening period. Thrashers 4, Bruins 1 ATLANTA Kari Lehtonen set a team record for shutout minutes before finally giving up a goal, and Atlanta won its third straight Marian Hossa kept up his strong start with a goal and two assists.

He has four goals and eight points in the Thrashers' first four games. Atlanta, which got off to a miserable start in 2005 and came up two points short of its first playoff appearance, has picked up at Clemente and Thurman Munson. Some were famous when they crashed; some became famous when they crashed. Lidle had been called a "scab" for playing in one spring training replacement game in 1995. He hung around a long time in baseball, longer than most people believed possible.

Brian Cashman kept insisting that he wouldn't have made the trade for Bobby Abreu at the July trade deadline unless the Phillies included Lidle in the deal. No one completely believed the Yankees' GM, but he kept saying it anyway. Once the season ended, and Lidle was destined to be on his way to an eighth team next season, what people would've remembered most about him was his second-guessing of Torre, a short-timer with the Yankees whom most felt hadn't earned the right. He was on the radio Tuesday, telling everyone that if a shame they didn't take the time to get to know him better. "Do you want me to go cry in my apartment for two weeks?" he said to Chris Russo, trying to defend himself for hitting the town in the hours after the Yankees' loss.

His wife had flown back to California on Wednesday, just as Lidle took to STAR I Tragic ending for journeyman' pitcher Lidle least one point in every game. The Thrashers began their winning streak after a shootout loss on opening night. Lehtonen is a big reason for the turnaround. The Finnish goalie went down in last year's opener with a groin injury, and wound up playing only 38 games. He stepped up his conditioning during the offseason and is fulfilling his potential as the second pick in the 2002 NHL draft.

Panthers 6, Hurricanes 3 SUNRISE, Fla. Gary Roberts and Olli Jokinen each scored twice to help Florida beat Carolina, keeping the defending Stanley Cup champions winless this season. Stephen Weiss added a goal and two assists for the Panthers (2-1-1). Martin Gelinas also scored, and Jokinen and Todd Bertuzzi each had two assists. Eric Belanger, Scott Walker and Andrew Hutchinson scored for Carolina (0-3-1), which has been outscored 18-7 this season.

The Hurricanes' longest winless streak last season was four games. Alexander Auld stopped 32 shots for Florida. John Grahame, the air from Teterboro Airport. Eight months ago, Lidle took a Phillies beat writer, Randy Miller of the Bucks County Courier Times, for a flight in spring training. Somewhere over Clearwater, Lidle told his uneasy passenger: "It's totally safe.

You'll get an engine quit in a 5-year-old Mercedes more than you'll get this engine to quit. People don't understand it. And if it quits, we'd have plenty of time to glide to where I can land somewhere." He never did get the chance to land on Wednesday, never did get the chance to return to California for the winter with his wife and 6-year-old son, Christopher. There was something of a surreal scene at Shea Stadium on Wednesday, when word started to spread that the fiery debris of plane was a Cirrus SR20 registered to Lidle, that it was the pitcher's passport found on the sidewalk. Just the other day, Lidle had been telling reporters about reading the accident report on John F.

Kennedy plane crash on the National SARATOGA SPRINGS Julie McPhillips scored with six seconds left in the second overtime to give the Saratoga Springs field hockey team a hard-earned 4-3 win over Shenendehowa in Suburban Council action Wednesday. Ashley Loviza also scored twice for Saratoga, which out-shot the Plainsmen 39-6, but was stymied repeatedly by Shen goalie Emily Gunner (35 saves). I I Saratoga 0 3 0 1 -4 GoahvAubb) ShanancMMME Andrasdk 2-0, Ferro 1-0. Saratoga Spring: Loviza 2-0, Cooper 0-1, Miter 0-1, DAgoEfcio 1-0, Powell 0-1, McPhillips 1-0. Shots Saratoga Springs, 39-6.

Poult camera: Saratoga Springs, 18-3. Ooaloi lit Gunner (Shen) 35; Koella (Sar) 3. ADIRONDACK LEAGUE North Warren 4, Warrentburg 3 CHESTERTOWN Katherine Gallagher scored on a Sarah Schloss assist with 5:09 left for the game-winning goal, as the Cougars avoided the upset North Warren forwards Caitlyn Breuer and Gallagher played outstanding games. Cassidy Brock, who made 11 saves, was strong in goal for the Burgers. Warreraburf (2-5, 4-11) 0 3-3 1 3-4 OoafcWUthtt Black 1-0, Roth 0-2, Mattble 1-0, Bralnard 0-1, Lawrence 1-0.

North Won-MK Emlaw 1-0, HID 0-1, Koraus 1-0, Remington 1-0, Breuer 0-1, Gallagher 1-0, S.Schtoss 0-1. Shots North Warren, 1 7-8. Penalty eomon: North Warren, 11-5. OoaHeeiam: Brock (W) 11; Rohm (NW)3. Johnsburg 1, Corinth 0 CORINTH Olivia Svrchek scored four and a half minutes into the game on a Kelly Blackhurst assist, and Katie Ordway made eight saves to let the score hold up for the Jaguars.

Jennifer Mann made 11 saves for Corinth. Transportation Safety Web site. He kept insisting to people that this was a safe hobby, that no one ought to worry about him. As it turned out, the last thing he ever did was deliver a distress call back to the airport, deliver a call for help when no one could save him. The rain would wash out Game 1 of the National League Championship Series between the Mets and Cardinals, just as well given the awkward pall that hung over the ballpark.

As it turned out, this was no act of terror crashing into that Upper East Side condo, but perhaps a rookie flying mistake out of a veteran pitcher. Cory Lidle called himself a "journeyman," the kind of ballplayer who would slip in and out of town unnoticed, gone to the next team before you even realized he had been here. Finally, Lidle gets remembered. That's the saddest part of all. No one forgets Cory Lidle now.

AdrUmWojnarowskiisa sports columnist for The Record (Hackensack N.J.). TRAGIC Continued from Page CI 50-story building on Manhattan's Upper East Side, killing Lidle and a passenger on board. What everyone feared could be terrorism in the first moments after the mid-afternoon crash turned into a most surreal day, when a random, horrific accident suddenly had a familiar name, if still an unfamiliar face. He called himself a "journeyman" on that August day when he made his Yankees debut, when he hoped his seventh team in nine seasons would be the stop where he could do something memorable, could reach a World Series, could be remembered. "I'm used to moving around," Lidle said.

"It's just the type of player I've become just a journeyman." Sports has had an ignoble history with plane crashes taking teams and players, but this was perhaps the oddest One moment, Lidle was circling the Statue of Liberty, the next he was crashing into the side of a 50-story condominium. Sports history has had its share of tragic air crashes from the U.S. figure skating team in 1961 to the Marshall University football team in 1970, to Roberto X7 POST EXE A CHANCE TO ADVERTISE THE FINEST HOMES IN THE AREA. Real Eetato Lietinp Over 100,000 Every TWeday Ado can be New Contraction, Deadline ie Tueeday berore 6paa RaaxJeotiml or Commarcul Ad aeie2i4 lor $60.00 to bto tmoW 8 Inchts of tpaci for only $7.60 por Inchl For mom Ireyrratlon, calfctoByat 518-742-3201 ftw 518-798-5738.