St. Mary’s boys headline list of local MIAA tournament entries

The St. Mary’s hockey team was a power in Division 3 less than a decade ago. Then the Spartans moved on to Division 2 and became one of the teams to beat there. Now, in their fourth year as a Division 1 program, the Spartans have joined the aristocracy of Massachusetts high school hockey.The champions of the Catholic Central League will play in the Division 1A tournament for the first time as the Spartans were a unanimous choice by the Super Eight selection committee for one of the 10 spots in the tournament.St. Mary’s earned the No. 9 seed and will face No. 8 Central Catholic tonight (8) at the Chelmsford Forum for the right to earn the final spot in Pool 1 when round robin play begins Sunday at Merrimack College.”We made history for the St. Mary’s hockey program and it feels pretty good,” St. Mary’s coach Mark Lee said. “It’s hard to put into words what it means but a lot of hard work has finally paid off.”St. Mary’s was one of six teams unanimously selected to be part of the field. If St. Mary’s wins tonight, it will join a pool that features MC, Weymouth and HIngham – all teams St. Mary’s has played well against this season.A nice consolation prize for the Spartans is if they do fall tonight, they will drop back into the top seed when the Division 1 North tourney starts this week.”It’s the first time that we’ve been in a state tournament where it doesn’t end if we don’t win,” Lee said. “We are going to be up for the challenge of playing Central and will go and do what we do best?work hard.”The Super Eight will have a North Shore feel as the Lancers were selected as the tournament’s top overall seed. The Catholic Conference champs are led by Saugus’ Mike Vecchione, whose 70 points leads all area scorers this season.On the other side of the bracket sits arguably the hottest team in the tournament: St. John’s Prep, who garnered the No. 2 spot. Coach Kristian Hanson’s team went 9-1 during the second half of the season, and led by Colin Blackwell, the Eagles have a chance to reach the Super Eight final for the first time in program history.The Eagles will be bracketed with BC High, Needham and either Woburn or Springfield Cathedral when they begin pool play Sunday.DIVISION 2 NORTHTwenty teams will take part in one of the toughest tournaments in all the state, with several local teams being contenders to knock off two-time defending champion Newburyport.Leading the locals is No. 2 seed Winthrop. Under coach Dale Dunbar, the Vikings are unbeaten since late December and won the NEC North title for the second time in three seasons. They will play the winner of Monday’s Lincoln-Sudbury/North Reading game on Thursday (7:30) in Watertown.Just behind them is No. 4 seed Saugus, who comes in with a 12-1-7 record and awaits the winner of Watertown/Stoneham on Thursday (5:30) at Salem State.”It’s probably been a little better than we expected as coaches this year,” coach Jeff Natalucci said. “We think that we can do some damage.”No. 5 seed Bishop Fenwick, champions of the CCL Small, will take on No. 12 North Andover Tuesday (5) at Salem State with the winner awaiting the winner of Saugus’ first round game in the quarterfinals.Another sleeper could be No. 6 seed Peabody, which faces No. 11 Tewksbury at Stoneham (7) on Tuesday. The Tanners led the NEC North race for most of the season and will have the task of shutting down Redmen star Ryan Doherty and his 49 points this season.”We are playing with confidence right now,” Peabody coach Mark Leonard said. “Tewksbury is a good team and they come from a good league.”Another interesting matchup will come tonight (7:30) at SSU when No. 16 Danvers takes on No. 17 Lynnfield in a preliminary game with the winner facing top seed Wilmington.DIVISION 3 NORTHTwo-time defending champion Marblehead drew the No. 2 seed and a bye into the quarters where it will face either Latin Academy or NEC South rival Lynn in Stoneham on Sunday (7).The Jets, the 10th and last seed, are in by virtue of finishing second in