HNIB News High School Hockey's Best Coverage | Est. 1972
Connecticut Division 2 Poll
| Rank | Team | PR* | W | L | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fairfield | 1 | 15 | 5 | 1 |
| 2 | South Windsor | 2 | 10 | 9 | 1 |
| 3 | Conard | 3 | 9 | 10 | 1 |
| 4 | North Branford | 4 | 17 | 4 | 1 |
| 5 | Cheshire | 5 | 10 | 11 | 1 |
| 6 | Guilford | 6 | 13 | 6 | 2 |
| 7 | New Milford | 7 | 9 | 11 | 0 |
| 8 | Hand | 8 | 8 | 10 | 2 |
| 9 | North Haven | 9 | 9 | 10 | 2 |
| 10 | East Haven | 10 | 7 | 9 | 4 |
Since 2001, the 13th seed has won the Connecticut Division II title twice; the top seed has won once.
Weird stuff sometimes happens in D-II, though those two 13s, Fairfield in 2013 and Hand in 2014, are the only two seeds lower than a 5 to win a title in that span. Still, two of the teams that have been Top Five mainstays in the HNIB News poll could meet in the quarterfinals, not that they have gimmes in the first round, either. Our No. 2 South Windsor meets Branford; No. 3 Conard faces No. 10 East Haven; and the victors face off later this week.
The winner of that quarter could run into No. 4 North Branford in the semifinals. The Thunderbirds, last year’s runners-up to Suffield/Granby/Windsor Locks (which moved up to Division I), won the SCC/SWC Division II tournament on Saturday and face Newington in the first round. The winner of that gets E.O. Smith/Tolland or No. 7 New Milford; the Bucks, last year’s Division III champion, beat New Milford in the regular season.
The other side of the bracket includes a possible No. 1 Fairfield vs. No. 5 Cheshire rematch in the quarters; Fairfield beat the Rams 1-0 in the regular season. Fairfield has to get past Watertown/Pomperaug first, and Cheshire has a Farmington Valley Generals co-op that won the CCC South Division tournament.
The last quarter has three SCC teams out of four, with No. 9 North Haven and No. 8 Hand meeting for a third time. The teams split in the regular season as North Haven slid from a good start to the sixth seed in the post-season. The victor there meets either No. 6 Guilford or Trumbull.
First round action begins Tuesday, March 8th.
Michael Fornabaio
Latest posts by Michael Fornabaio (see all)
- Conn. Division 1 Preview: Defending champ Ridgefield needs to reload - December 14, 2017
- Conn. Division 1 Preseason Top 10: Fairfield Prep seeks return to top - December 14, 2017
- Conn. D2 Preview, Preseason Top 10: Guilford is the pick - December 14, 2017
