Here are the picks I made when I filled out the bracket for each division. You may want to have the bracket open in a separate tab or printed out for reference.
DIVISION I:
Quarters: NC vs ND-WH (ND at home with Greg Harney in front of the net will be too much for G-bury); Amity (just like last year in DII) vs Ridgefield (the Conard that beat Xavier was a one-time thing); Prep vs Hamden (both could get upset but I think win by at least 2); SW vs X (again, both could lose and I think both games will be close but the better team comes out on top)
Semis: NC vs Ridgefield (NC had enough offense w/o their top 2 forwards to beat Hamden, I think they can beat Harney); X (SW has a good goalie but as long as X's offense shows up the game won't even be close) vs Prep (Prep basically beat Hamden the first time the two played and they surely did the second time so expect another thriller in the third meeting but the defending champs tournament run ends at the hands of the Jesuits)
Championship: X (X's only goal against Prep last time was scored by their fourth line...X comes ready for this one at Yale, pressures Galiani and gets the win...Xavier goalie Austin Essery needs to have a good game as well but the kid lives for big games so I think he does. oh yeah and don't you think Hamden will beat Prep up a bit so if X just keeps up the physical play it should be too much for Prep to handle) vs Ridgfield (I would have taken Ridgefield over NC in the FCIAC championship if they had made it there. I think they will play their best game of the year because they want the win so bad and NC will be a little worn out after their ND-WH game, even if it was 4 days before)
Winner: Xavier - they beat Ridgefield in the regular season and Ridgefield will be feeling very good after their upset of NC and I think Xavier remains focused and knocks them off their high horse...with eight seniors I just think it's the Falcons' year.
NOTE: Before you start claiming I have a hometown bias, I would like to say that the outcome depends so much on match-ups and I will post a bracket, with picks, based on my rankings after this post.
DIVISION II:
First-round winners: F-W/L (FCIAC > NHC) and Hand (SCC-DII champs vs a team that got killed by East Catholic...I'll take the team that upset Cheshire and Guilford)
Semifinals: Guilford vs Trumbull (they're just better, plain and simple); Cheshire (I don't think Hand can do it again) vs Wilton (their speed will be too much for East's defense and all the shots will be too much for East's goalie)
Championship: Trumbull vs Wilton (FCIAC bias? no. Guilford is by not means impeccable and I think the FCIAC schedule has prepared both of these teams well so Trumbull just flat outplays Guilford and Wilton is too much for Cheshire as well...Cheshire has been struggling lately and Wilton was the 5 seed in the FCIAC tourney, ahead of Darien and Greenwich)
Winner: Wilton (even if Guilford beats Trumbull, I still think Wilton wins it all in a great game on Friday night at Yale's Ingalls Rink)
DIVISION III:
Quarters: B-B-D vs NWC; W-P vs N-B; S-W-S vs St Bernard-Bacon-NFA; W-EG-A vs Newton
Semis: B-B-D vs W-P (both should be close games but the better team prevails in each); S-W-S vs W-EG-A (Newton can definitely pull the upset but I think W-EG-A, or WAVE as they are also known as, played and did well with a relatively tough schedule so they are better prepared)
Championship: W-P (B-B-D took the regular season match-up 3-2 on 1/15 but W-P killed them 6-1 in the SWC Championship...I got W-P winning big again) vs S-W-S (another relatively easy match-up for S-W-S...guess that's the perks of the 3 seed)
Winner: Staples-Weston-Shelton (As much as I hate to say it, Staples wins another state championship. W-P will make it a very good game but S-W-S did very well in the FCIAC this year-they were the 4 seed, ahead of some DI teams and all the DII teams-while W-P is just a good DIII team)
No comments:
Post a Comment