It's that time of the year. Two teams in Division 1, 2, 3 and 4 remain standing. They will battle for glory on Sunday in the MIAA championships at TD Garden. There is quite a bit of intrigue in each matchup. While Division 2 and Division 3 have high seeds pitted against one another, Division...
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Two teams in Division 1, 2, 3 and 4 remain standing. They will battle for glory on Sunday in the MIAA championships at TD Garden.
There is quite a bit of intrigue in each matchup. While Division 2 and Division 3 have high seeds pitted against one another, Division 1 has a higher seed against a team on a Cinderella run. In Division 4, the Nos. 5 and 6 seeds are going head to head.
Last year's title games provided quite a bit of drama. There were close games, upsets and controversies.
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I put together a bracket on Feb. 24. My first-round performance was strong (14-for-16), but I wasn't as great at picking teams to move on to the Round of 8 (4-for-8). While my final of Pope Francis and Belmont was off, I correctly picked Pope Francis and Catholic Memorial to battle in the semifinals. I'll give myself that one.
Here's the full schedule for Sunday's games, including the girls championships:
D4 boys: No. 5 Winthrop vs. No. 6 Dedham | 9 am
D1 girls: No. 1 Hingham vs. No. 15 Bishop Stang | 11 am
D1 boys: No. 4 Catholic Memorial vs. No. 14 St. John’s Shrewsbury | 1 pm
Division 1: No. 4 Catholic Memorial vs. No. 14 St. John's Shrewsbury
Every team in this story is hot, but Catholic Memorial is scorching.Â
The Knights ended the regular season with wins over Hingham, St. John's Prep, Archbishop Williams, Pope Francis and Winchester, and legitimately challenged for No. 1 in our final rankings. They kept that pace in the playoffs, beating Wachusett, Arlington Catholic, Archbishop Williams and Pope Francis again to earn a spot at TD Garden. They have beaten teams with a mix of offense and hard-nosed, structured defense led by defenders Colin Yandle (Dorchester, Mass.), Liam McKinney (Milton, Mass.), Seamus Tatten (West Roxbury, Mass.) and James Baker (Dorchester, Mass.). Eighth-grader Jaxson Fleming (Waltham, Mass.) has been terrific in net, too.
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St. John's Shrewsbury had a very different ending to the regular season. The Pioneers lost nine of 10 to finish the regular season and looked like an easy out come the tournament. But head coach Michael Mead switched things up, opting for junior varsity goalie Colin McCarthy to start against Burlington in the first round. McCarthy had looked great in varsity practice throughout the season and earned Mead's confidence. Mead was also fortunate to get back star forward and Bowdoin commit Daniel Menyalkin back for the playoffs.
Since then, St. John's Shrewsbury has beaten a gauntlet of publics, taking down Burlington, Hingham, Winchester and Arlington. Against the Spy Ponders, St. John's Shrewsbury also got back junior defenseman Conor Secrist (Shrewsbury, Mass.). He will be important against CM on Sunday.
The Knights beat St. John's Shrewsbury twice during the regular season. But this is a different Pioneers team. I also had St. John's Shrewsbury in my pre-tournament MIAA boys sleeper teams who could make noise. I'm sticking with them making some more noise and the Cinderella run getting a proper ending.
Prediction:Â St. John's Shrewsbury wins, 3-2, in overtime.
It's hard to be hotter than Canton right now. The Bulldogs enter Sunday on a 21-game winning streak and upset No. 2 Woburn in the semifinals. They boast a strong defensive core with juniors Teddy Shuman, Graidy Carr and Will Doucette. Connor Geoghan has been terrific in net as well.
But they meet up with a force in Billerica.
The Indians had a scare in the semifinals. Up 1-0 late, Tewksbury scored with 0.9 seconds left to tie the game. Fortunately for Billerica, junior forward Ryan Johnson scored the winner in overtime, sending his team to the final. Johnson has been a primary scorer, along with Danny Viscione, Timmy Murphy and James Columbus. Defenseman Nolan Dawson has been a leader at both ends of the ice.
While this is Canton's fifth appearance at TD Garden, I have Billerica in this one.
Prediction:Â Billerica wins, 4-2.
Division 3: No. 1 Nauset vs. No. 2 Medfield
If Catholic Memorial is scorching, Nauset is a 5-alarm fire — in the best way possible.
Nauset is undefeated. The Warriors have trounced the competition en route to TD Garden. Most recently, they crushed No. 4 Scituate, 8-0, and have outscored opponents 27-2 since the playoffs started. They have only allowed 17 goals all season. The story with Nauset is senior forward Logan Poulin, who has 51 goals and 83 points on the year. He is dominant and the tone-setter for his team. Five of those points came in the semifinal. Nauset also fell in the championship to Marblehead, 1-0, last season.
Medfield, however, is not to be taken lightly. The Warriors are led by strong scorers in Luke Dickson, John Shaugnessy, Ben Lusby, Joey Nee and Matty Dickson. In net, Charlie Duggan has been vital to his team. They have taken down Somerville, Lynnfield, Melrose and Bedford to land in the championship.
Nauset beat Medfield, 3-0, on Feb. 17. While beating a team twice in a month is hard, Nauset is just too good. The Warriors will avenge last season's championship loss.
Both of these teams had to upset opponents to arrive in the final.
Winthrop most recently took down No. 4 Littleton, 4-0, in the Round of 8 and No. 1 Stoneham, 5-1, in the semifinals. Dedham took down No. 3 Dover-Sherborn, 5-0, in the Round of 8. Dedham's semifinal matchup wasn't an upset, as it beat No. 10 Hudson, 5-0. Dedham rattled off five second-period goals to beat Hudson.
Prediction:Â Winthrop wins, 3-1.
WATCH: Who will win the MIAA championships?
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