MIAA girls' hockey tournament: Favorites, sleepers, and analysis, Divisions 1-2
Division 1
Favorites:
No. 1 Hingham (19-1-1), No. 3 Malden Catholic (14-2-4).
Sleepers:
No. 12 Peabody/Lynnfield/North Reading (15-3-2), No. 15 Bishop Stang (14-5-1).
Best first-round matchup:
Wednesday, No. 17 Arlington (13-8-0) at No. 16 Shrewsbury (11-7-2), at NorthStar Ice Sports, 6:15 pm.
Longest road trip:
Tuesday, No. 24 Pope Francis (8-10-3) at No. 9 Reading (13-6-1), Burbank Arena — 99 miles.
Analysis:
There are a plethora of contenders across the Division 1 landscape. Hingham's unbeaten run ended on the final day, but the Harborwomen still secured the top seed after a dominant regular season.
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At No. 2, Notre Dame-Hingham (13-3-3) is right back in the mix after falling in triple overtime in the state final last year. Once again, the Cougars have a stout defense. Right behind NDA is
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Look out for MVC/DCL contenders No. 4 Haverhill/Pentucket/North Andover (14-2-5), No. 6 Methuen/Tewksbury (16-1-3), No. 10 Andover (9-6-5), and No. 11 Billerica/Chelmsford (15-5-0). Expect higher seeds like No. 12 Peabody/Lynnfield/North Reading, reigning state champion No. 14 St. Mary's (9-11-2), and
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:
PLAYERS TO WATCH
F Caroline Doherty
, Hingham
— Committed to Holy Cross,
F Caroline Batchelder
, Archbishop Williams
— The Bishops' career scoring leader headlines a deep forward group.
F Chloe Bryda
, Bishop Feehan
— A dynamic power forward, Bryda has scored 29 times for the Shamrocks, becoming the program's new all-time points leader.
D Ava Baker
, Malden Catholic
— Baker has repeatedly come through in
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D Paige Nottingham
, Haverhill/Pentucket/North Andover
—
G Alyse Mutti
, Peabody/Lynnfield/North Reading
—
Division 2
Favorites:
No. 1 Westwood (18-1-1), No. 2 Duxbury (15-5-2).
Sleepers:
No. 7 Marshfield (11-7-2), No. 10 Sandwich (12-9-1).
Best first round matchup:
Tuesday, No. 20 Hopkinton/Dover-Sherborn (10-8-2) at No. 13 Medfield (11-7-2), Canton Ice House, 7:30 p.m.
Longest road trip:
Wednesday, No. 31 Newburyport (8-11-1) at No. 2 Duxbury, The Bog — 77 miles.
Analysis:
Division 2 has been owned by Duxbury two years running.
The top seed, Westwood, did the exact same — perfect except for one tie against Division 2 foes. A potential state final between the top two seeds would be a thriller.
Teams trying to break up that party include No. 3 Woburn (13-4-3), which was one of the Middlesex League's best, and No. 4 Algonquin (13-4-3), a semifinalist a year ago. No. 9 Falmouth (11-8-1) was the runner-up a year ago, and boasts one of the top offenses in the state.
Watch for
PLAYERS TO WATCH
F Kate Sullivan
, Westwood
— The senior paced a Wolverines team that nearly went unbeaten through the regular season, combining
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F Casey Roth
, Falmouth
— The Clippers' career scoring leader, Roth scores in bunches and drives one of the state's best lines along with Riley Devlin and Maeve Turner.
F Caitlyn Tremblay
, Burlington
—
D Sami Norton
, Duxbury
— One of the state's best shutdown defenders, the senior not only stifles the opposition but also contributes in the offensive zone.
D Darby Rounseville
, Sandwich
— The Blue Knights went 9-3-0 over their last 12 games after a 3-6-1 start, and that's in large part due to this senior's contributions from the blue line.
G Morgan Murphy, Marshfield
— A year ago as a sophomore, Murphy was the backbone to the Rams' run to the semifinals. Now with another year of improvement, she'll be just as influential as Marshfield looks to surprise people again.
Matty Wasserman can be reached at
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