Spartan boys earn No. 2 spot in Super 8

The St. Mary’s boys hockey team now can rightfully say it is among the aristocracy of Division 1 hockey in Massachusetts after the Spartans earned the No. 2 seed in the Division 1A tournament that begins on Monday.”These kids have worked so hard and we’re excited about it,” St. Mary’s coach Mark Lee said. “We know that we can compete with everybody here and this is well earned by this team.”The Spartans go into the tournament with the best record of any team at 18-1-3 and will be in a pool with No. 3 seed St. John’s Prep; No. 6 Springfield Cathedral and the winner of tonight’s play-in game between No. 7 Burlington and No. 10 Central Catholic.St. Mary’s opens on Sunday (TBA) with a game against the Burlington-Central winner. The Spartans play again the following Wednesday against Springfield, whom the Spartans beat 3-2 earlier this season, and close pool play on March 11 with a long-anticipated meeting with the Prep.”To be seeded second shows the respect the committee has for us,” Lee said. “We played Springfield and it was a battle and now getting to play St. John’s on the big stage is even more exciting.”The other side of the bracket is just as loaded as top-seeded Malden Catholic looks to defend its championship. The Lancers will have No. 4 Hingham, a champion in its own right two years ago in the Super 8, and BC High along with either St. John’s (Shrewsbury) or Needham.All eight teams will be in action on Sunday at Merrimack College’s Lawlor Arena when the tournament’s pool play round kicks off. The finals are on March 18 at TD Garden.