If most of our area hockey teams want to make deep playoff runs, then they’ll have to be comfortable being on the road.
All told, we’ve probably said goodbye to the Graf Rink until next year.
The MIAA released its official playoff hockey brackets on Satuday morning, and four local teams have made their respective fields. For the boys, both Amesbury (No. 22) and Newburyport (No. 18) are in the Division 2 bracket, while Pentucket (No. 18) has once again made it in Divison 4. Then for the girls, the HPNA co-op is our only team to have a home first-round game, coming in as the No. 9 seed in Division 1 and trying to replicate last year’s run to the Final Four.
Newburyport (12-7-3) actually dropped a spot in the final bracket reveal, even after tying Algonquin in the Bank Classic final (winning in a shootout). The Clippers will have to travel down to No. 15 North Attleborough for the first round, with puck drop set for 7 p.m. on Wednesday night from the NE Sports Villiage. Hopefully Jack Sullivan (24g, 14a) will be back for the Clippers, who will still rely on Henry Waddell (19g, 23a), Luke MacIsaac (16g, 22a), Owen Mongeau (5g, 11a), Jagger Gudaitis and goalie Sean Murray to try and make a deep run.
Meanwhile, Amesbury (11-7-2) will be making the shorter trip down to No. 11 Billerica for the first round on Wednesday night, with puck drop set for 7 p.m. at the Hallenborg Rink. Sophomore forward Grady Stickney (30g, 23a) is having a terrific season for the Redhawks, who have an elite defense between Lincoln Kime (9g, 11a), Evan Murphy (9g, 11a), Ryan Guertin, Logan Pickering (6g, 8a), Logan Genualdo and Ryan Franz.
Then for Chase Pelletier, Mac Cole, Reece King, Owen Case, Brody LeColst, Josh Yoon and Pentucket (7-12-1), it’ll be a rematch. The Panthers will once again make the trip over to No. 15 Lunenburg, with their first round game kicking off at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday night. The two teams met in the first round a year ago, with the Panthers earning a 5-2 upset win as the No. 22 seed.
Finally, the road back to the Final Four for Mia Kmiec, Charlotte Woodford, Taylor Bierschied, Maddie Bush and HPNA (14-2-4) will begin on Wednesday. The team will welcome in No. 24 Braintree, with puck drop set for 6 p.m. at Veterans Memorial Rink.
Here are the playoff brackets for each division that includes a local team.
BOYS Division 2
Seedings: 1. Canton (19-1-0); 2. Tewksbury (18-1-1); 3. Falmouth (15-5-2); 4. Burlington (14-5-1); 5. Woburn (11-7-2); 6. Westwood (17-2-1); 7. Milton (11-9-1); 8. Barnstable (12-7-1); 9. Walpole (9-10-1); 10. King Philip (13-5-2); 11. Billerica (9-9-2); 12. Concord-Carlisle (10-7-3); 13. Duxbury (9-12-1); 14. Whitman-Hanson (10-9-1); 15. North Attleborough (13-6-1); 16. Hopkinton (12-7-1); 17. Gloucester (14-5-1)
18. NEWBURYPORT (12-7-3); 19. Beverly (11-6-3); 20. Boston Latin (7-13-0); 21. Melrose (7-11-2); 22. AMESBURY (11-7-2); 23. Algonquin (8-9-3); 24. Dartmouth (8-12-0); 25. Minnechaug (12-7-1); 26. Auburn (8-10-2); 27. Mansfield (6-11-1); 28. Silver Lake (4-18-0); 29. Plymouth North (5-15-0); 30. Plymouth South (2-16-2); 31 Westborough (8-11-1); 32. Somerset Berkley (9-10-1)
LOCAL FIRST ROUND GAMES
Wednesday, Feb. 25th
No. 18 Newburyport at No. 15 North Attleborough, 7 p.m.
No. 22 Amesbury at No. 11 Billerica, 7 p.m.
Division 4
Seeding: 1. Stoneham (13-7-0); 2. Littleton (19-1-0); 3. Dover-Sherborn (12-9-0); 4. Wilmington (11-8-1); 5. Winthrop (12-6-2); 6. Norwell (13-5-3); 7. Martha’s Vineyard (12-8-0); 8. Sandwich (8-10-2); 9. St. Bernard’s (17-3-0); 10. Hudson (13-6-1); 11. North Reading (11-7-2); 12. Abington (12-9-0); 13. Greenfield (11-8-1); 14. Medway (7-11-2); 15. Lunenburg (13-6-1); 16. Monomoy (11-9-0); 17. Saint John Paul II (12-7-1)
18. PENTUCKET (7-12-1); 19. McCann Tech (14-3-0); 20. Boston Latin (10-9-1); 21. Burncoat (11-8-1); 22. Northeast Metro (12-7-0); 23. Bourne (9-9-2); 24. Rockland (8-12-0); 25. Cohasset (7-12-0); 26. Dennis-Yarmouth (7-13-0); 27. Oakmont (8-12-0); 28. Rockport (4-16-0); 29. Tri-County (8-8-1); 30. Old Rochester (6-10-4); 31. Nantucket (4-13-0); 32. East Bridgewater (6-16-0); 33. Blue Hills (11-9-0)
LOCAL FIRST ROUND GAMES
Thursday, Feb. 26th
No. 18 Pentucket at No. 15 Lunenburg, 5:30 p.m.
GIRLS Division 1
Seeding: 1. Notre Dame Academy (13-2-3); 2. St. Mary’s (17-3-2); 3. Algonquin (20-1-0); 4. Bishop Feehan (15-7-0); 5. Archbishop Williams (13-7-1); 6. Methuen (18-0-2); 7. Hingham (15-5-1); 8. Bishop Stang (15-4-1); 9. HPNA (14-2-4); 10. Reading (13-2-5); 11. Woburn (15-5-0); 12. Billerica (13-5-2); 13. Arlington Catholic (9-9-2); 14. Malden Catholic (7-11-2); 15. Natick (12-7-3); 16. Belmont (11-6-3); 17. Shrewsbury (10-7-3);
18. Winchester (13-8-1); 19. Beverly (15-5-0); 20. Acton-Boxborough (13-5-3); 21. Brookline (9-7-4); 22. Pope Francis (8-8-5); 23. Grafton (12-6-1); 24. Braintree (9-7-4); 25. Bishop Fenwick (7-11-2); 26. Waltham (11-8-1); 27. Winthrop (10-4-3); 28. Boston Latin (7-14-1); 29. Hopkinton (10-10-0); 30. Westford Academy (11-7-2); 31. Framingham (8-7-5); 32. Shawsheen Valley Tech (11-9-0); 33. Central Catholic (8-8-4)
LOCAL FIRST ROUND GAMES
Wednesday, Feb. 25th
No. 24 Braintree at No. 9 HPNA, 6 p.m.