Today, we will project the brackets in Divisions I & II as the regular season comes to a close this week.
I will be taping a Division I tournament preview podcast with Winnacunnet head coach Jay McKenna and a Division II episode with Oyster River heads coach 'The Big Smooth' Lewis Atkins.
Our Bracketology column is brought to you by our longtime partners at Manchester Community College!
Division I Standings. Scoring Leaders and Gold Level coaches
Gold Level Supporters/Coaches: Jaryd Piecuch of Londonderry, Matt Fennessy of Dover, Ryan Cowette of Goffstown, Mike Dunham of Pinkerton, Rob McLaughlin of Salem, Jeff Holmes of Exeter, Jeff Baumann of Timberlane, Leo Gershgorin of Alvirne, Ray Boulay of Keene and Jay McKenna of Winnacunnet
Bracketology Edition (projecting the fifteen seeds in next week’s tournament... The top seed gets a first-round bye)
(1) Pinkerton Academy 2) Bedford 3) Nashua North 4) Exeter 5) Trinity 6) Windham 7) Keene 8) Nashua South 9) Alvirne 10) Dover 11) Portsmouth 12) Londonderry 13) Merrimack 14) Manchester Central 15) Manchester Memorial
First Team Out: Goffstown
Notes: So, for the sake of projecting a bracket, I had the home team winning games that were too close to call. Games like Keene at Exeter and Goffstown at Alvirne. I have no idea who is winning those games, and neither do you..but for the bracket, the home team gets the nod…..Exeter would get the tie-breaker over Trinity because they beat them head-to-head….Dover, Portsmouth, and Londonderry ended up in a three-way tie and were all 1-1 against one another. The next tie-breaker is wins over tournament teams; Dover would have four, Londonderry & Portsmouth three apiece…..I projected Manchester Central winning at Spaulding because it's a must-win for the Little Green and the Red Raiders can't get in but again…it’s a 50/50 game….Goffstown and Memorial ended up tied in this scenario, the Crusaders beat the Grizzlies head-to-head and would get the last spot.
Potential First Round Match-ups:
Manchester Memorial at Bedford (for a third time)
Manchester Central at Nashua North
Merrimack at Exeter
Londonderry at Trinity (The Nate Stanton Bowl)
Portsmouth at Windham
Dover at Keene
Alvirne at Nashua South
Division II Standings, Scoring Leaders, and Gold Level Coaches
Gold Level Coaches: Peter Pierce of Souhegan, David Smith of Coe-Brown, Joe Morin of Pelham, Mike Donnell of Pembroke, Ryan Kelley of Hollis-Brookline, Rich Otis of Manchester West, Ben Davis of Hanover, Joe Faragher of Kingswood, Steve McDonough of Laconia, Don Gutterson of Milford, Ben Cronin of Plymouth and Lewis Atkins of Oyster River.
Bracketology Edition (projecting the fourteen seeds in next week’s tournament... The top two seeds get a first-round bye)
(1) Pelham 2) Hanover 3) Pembroke Academy 4) Coe Brown 5) Bow 6) Manchester West 7) Laconia 8) Plymouth 9) Souhegan 10) Sanborn 11) Kennett 12) Merrimack Valley 13) Kingswood 14) Oyster River
First team out: John Stark
Thursday morning edition (after Wednesday nights results): 1) Pelham 2) Hanover 3) Pembroke 4) Coe Brown 5) Manchester West 6) Laconia 7) Bow 8) Sanborn 9) Plymouth 10) Souhegan 11) Kennett 12) Merrimack Valley 13) Kingswood 14) Oyster River
Notes: For the bracketology, we projected Bow beats Sanborn and Laconia beats Oyster River. Those two games could easily go the other way, but that is where we landed in projecting the seeds…..Kingswood, Kennett, and Merrimack Valley ended up in a three-way tie; the tie-breaker was tournament wins, Kennett has four, as does Merrimack Valley, Kennett beat MV head to head, Kingswood with three tourney wins drops to thirteen….Souhegan wins the tie-breaker over Sanborn because they beat them head to head….how is it that Coe Brown and Bow do not play each other during the season??...well in this scenario, they could meet in the quarterfinals…Plymouth is in the playoffs for the first time in ten years…
Potential First Round Match-ups:
Oyster River at Pembroke
Kingswood at Coe Brown Academy
Souhegan at Bow
Kennett at Manchester West
Plymouth at Sanborn
Merrimack Valley at Laconia
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