Massachusetts Boys D2 Top 15
For the first time this season there is a new No. 1 team in the HNIB News Massachusetts Division 2 boys hockey rankings.
It’s not much of a surprise after Lincoln-Sudbury snapped Canton’s 43-game unbeaten streak last Wednesday, which was enough to catapult the Warriors into the top spot. L-S also scored a win against Division 1 Waltham to cap the week.
Canton bounced back from its first loss in two years, and then a two-goal deficit in the third period to pull out a 2-2 tie Saturday with Div. 1 Braintree, slotting the Bulldogs in at No. 2.
Through no fault of its own, Masconomet gets knocked down a spot to No. 3 even though the Chieftains won their lone game last week, against Westford Academy.
North Andover, Tewksbury and Plymouth North held serve in the Nos. 4-6 spot. The latter two lost over the past week, but you might be able to put them in the “good loss” column – Tewksbury putting up a great fight against BC High, while North fell to Div. 3 power Hopkinton on Martha’s Vineyard.
The next group – Triton, Whitman-Hanson, Boston Latin and Wakefield – all moved up a spot after getting through the week unscathed. New No. 11 Marblehead has righted the ship and is up two spots.
Rounding out the list is a group of four Tri-Valley teams that shook things up with some head-to-head action last week. No. 12 Medfield scored a solid 5-0 win against Norwood, which tumbles to 13. Meanwhile, No. 14 Medway took a giant step toward locking up the TVL Small by beating Dedham, which rounds things out at No. 15.
The final week will be an interesting one for the ranked Div. 2 teams as Canton, Boston Latin and Medfield face each other in a round-robin format. Canton hosts Latin on Monday and visits Medfield on Tuesday, then Latin is home to Medfield on Wednesday.
Lincoln-Sudbury has an interesting matchup Wednesday with a Natick team that remains on the Super Eight Watch List, while Masconomet has a pair of tough matchups with Danvers (Monday) and Melrose (Thursday).
Marblehead heads to the Jeffrey Hayes Memorial Tournament at Gallo, along with host Sandwich, Nantucket and North Reading. Meanwhile, Triton finishes play in its division of the Newburyport Bank Classic against Lowell.