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Wilkes-Barre man to be charged after fleeing crash scene

Live Your Best Life Series at the Hoyt Library

<p>Jay Leach&#8217;s hometown may be listed as Syracuse, but that residency only last about two weeks after he was born. The place where the associate head coach actually spent his childhood was to the east of Syracuse, in Albany. Growing up in the state capital offered a lot of opportunity for the Leach family to travel. It only took a short drive to reach the Finger Lakes, New England or even Canada.</p><p>Maybe that&#8217;s why when Leach was growing up, he really didn&#8217;t know anyone born and raised in Albany. Everyone moved there from other places.</p><p>Albany is typical of so many upstate New York towns and cities. They&#8217;re surrounded by beautiful scenery, the downtowns are quaint and New York City is thought of as an entirely different world.</p><p><strong>Player:</strong> Jay Leach</p><p><strong>Hometown:</strong> Albany, NY</p><p><strong>Type:</strong> City</p><p><strong>Population:</strong> 100,104</p><p><strong>Distance from Wilkes-Barre: </strong>196 miles</p><p><strong>What was your childhood like in Albany? </strong>&#8220;It wasn&#8217;t the most exciting place, but we enjoyed it. We had our fair share of winter in Albany so there was a lot of hockey on the frozen reservoirs or backyard rinks. My brother, sister and myself all grew up there and we kept out of trouble, so it wasn&#8217;t a bad place to be.&#8221;</p><p><strong>Being so close to the Massachusetts border were you a fan of Boston or New York teams?</strong> &#8220;Boston and New York City were each two-and-a-half hours away, so there wasn&#8217;t a true allegiance to either team in Albany. I was a Boston guy. My uncle (Steve Leach) played for the Bruins so that&#8217;s who I followed.&#8221;</p><p><strong>So if you lived in Albany it was acceptable to be a Red Sox fan?</strong> &#8220;Yes. The funny thing about Albany, out of all my friends no one really had family that grew up in Albany. Everyone moved there from other places so there was a wide range of teams that everyone followed.&#8221;</p><p><strong>Being so close to other states and areas of New York, did your family travel much?</strong> &#8220;We were always on the go - New England, Canada, New York. We&#8217;d go to Lake Placid and the Adirondacks and even New Hampshire. I did a lot of hiking in the White Mountains of New Hampshire and the Green Mountains in Vermont. I especially liked Lake Placid which was an awesome spot because of the water.&#8221;</p><p><strong>There are quite a few hockey players from upstate New York. What do you attribute that to?</strong> &#8220;There&#8217;s not a whole lot more to do. Plus you had a lot of rinks and plenty of colleges in the region with hockey programs that generate a lot of interest.&#8221;</p><p><strong>Do you see any similarities between Wilkes-Barre and Albany?</strong> &#8220;They&#8217;re both small towns with nice people. Not as fast-paced as the bigger cities. The landscape is similar in that both places are surrounded by rolling hills.&#8221;</p><p><strong>Being from upstate New York, is New York City thought of as a different place?</strong> &#8220;It&#8217;s almost a different entity. Albany and New York City are entirely different. But we would go to the city quite often to watch my uncle play at the (Madison Square) Garden.&#8221;</p><p><strong>Would you like to move back to Albany one day?</strong> &#8220;I enjoyed it there, but I think I&#8217;m more of a New England guy. My parents still live there but they spend their summers in New Hampshire, and I can see myself going there one day.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Leach </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/web1_J.-Leach.jpg</photo0><caption0>Leach </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Tom Venesky</p><p>tvenesky@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Tom Venesky at 570-991-6395 or on Twitter @TLTomVenesky</p></shirttailMeta></div>

My Hometown with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins: Albany was a hub for Jay Leach’s family trips