The MIAA released its pairings for the boys and girls hockey state tournaments Saturday afternoon. Plenty of local teams are in the mix for state championships.
The St. Mary’s boys hockey team finished its competitive regular season schedule at 16-5-1, good for the No. 8 seed in the Division 1A ‘Super 8’ bracket. St. Mary’s starts its postseason quest Monday night (7) with a ‘Super 8’ play-in game against No. 9 Marshfield at Chelmsford Forum. If the Spartans win, they continue in the ‘Super 8’ tournament. A St. Mary’s loss drops the Spartans into the Division 1 North bracket (which is yet to be completed).
In Division 2 North, Winthrop earned the best seed of the local bunch. The Vikings drew the No. 5 seed and face No. 12 Stoneham Tuesday night (8) in Woburn. Marblehead earned the No. 6 seed and clashes against No. 11 Pentucket Tuesday night (8) at Stoneham Arena. Lynnfield drew the No. 10 seed and battles against No. 7 Tewksbury in the first round Tuesday night (7) at Chelmsford Forum.
Also in Division 2 North, No. 3 Gloucester has a first-round tilt against Northeastern Conference rival No. 10 Danvers. The Fishermen and Falcons will play Tuesday night (6) at Stoneham Arena.
In Division 3 North, Lynn and Swampscott qualified for postseason play. The Lynn Jets finished their regular season at 12-4-4 and earned a first-round bye, meaning they won’t play again until March 3. Lynn awaits the winner of No. 11 Swampscott and No. 6 Shawsheen. The Big Blue will play Shawsheen Thursday night (8) in the first round at Stoneham Arena. Lynn and Swampscott met in last year’s Division 3 North semifinal round.
“The good thing with the way the pairings came out is that we’ve seen every team on our side of the bracket,” Lynn coach Mike Roberts said. “It makes it easier for us to prepare. We had a bye week in the past and it didn’t work out. Last year we didn’t have a bye. Having the bye and an automatic bid into the quarterfinal round says a lot about what they’ve done during the season. We’ll prepare like we prepare for any team.
“Whether it be Shawsheen or Swampscott, we’ll be ready physically,” Roberts said. “We’ll have our leagues underneath us. We have a goal to go further than we got last season and one of those two teams will be standing in our way.”
On the girls side, St. Mary’s earned the best seed of the local bunch. The Spartans finished the regular season at 16-2-2 and drew the No. 6 seed in the Division 1 bracket. St. Mary’s will host No. 27 Mansfield in the preliminary round Wednesday (6) at William P. Connery Rink.
A pair of local teams will play one another in the preliminary round, as No. 22 Winthrop travels to No. 11 Peabody Wednesday (5:15) for a clash between Northeastern Hockey League foes at James McVann-Louis O’Keefe Rink.
“I expected nothing less than an all-out war,” Winthrop coach Anthony Martucci said. “Peabody’s the top team in our conference. They have some serious offensive weapons, they back-check exceptionally well and they’re strong on defense with a great goalie (Abby Buckley) backstopping them. It will take near-perfect effort from our team if we want to win and move on in the tournament.”
Peabody coach Michelle Roach, who was named the Northeastern Hockey League Coach of the Year, shared a similar take.
“Winthrop is a tough team and a very well-coached team,” Roach said. “They’re in our league. We played them twice this year. It’ll be a close game. We’ll need to play smart and capitalize on the chances we get if we’re going to be successful.”
In Division 2, the Bishop Fenwick Crusaders wrapped the regular season at 12-7-1. Fenwick drew the No. 13 seed and will host No. 20 Cohasset Tuesday (6:10) at McVann-O’Keefe Rink.
