MIAA Massachusetts High School Hockey

2016 Buddy Ferreira Classic Preview

For the second year in a row, MyHockeyLive.com will be bringing you all 12 games from the Buddy Ferreira Classic at the Falmouth Ice Arena, which features eight Division 1 teams, a perfect blend of three teams from the north and five from the south, with four Catholic schools and four public schools comprising the field.

This year, the Reading Rockets make their Falmouth debut, replacing the Waltham Hawks.

The tournament takes place over four days, with a quadruple header on both Saturday and Monday, and two games apiece on Wednesday and Thursday, the latter of which on Thursday serves as the Championship Game.

Of the eight teams in this year's field, five find themselves on the Super 8 watch list, while six teams have already clinched postseason births (Archies, which appears on the watch list, is still 2 points shy of qualifying for the postseason).

It's a single-elimination tournament, but every team is guaranteed three games, with consolation games occurring for each team if/when they are eliminated.

The first round is on Saturday, with four games set to begin at 1, 3, 5 and 7 p.m. Here's a look at the match-ups, and some other miscellaneous tidbits:

Game 1: Arlington Catholic Cougars (6-6-4, 16 points) vs. Duxbury Dragons (10-5-2, 22 points), 1 p.m.

AC, last year's Div. 1 State runner-up, is one of two teams in the field yet to clinch a postseason birth. The Cougars will need four points in their final five games to get back to the tournament this season. They are on the same side of the bracket as the Hingham Harbormen, the team which took them down with just 1:16 left in the third period of last year's state title game, so if AC beats Duxbury and Hingham takes care of Archies, they'll have a shot to clinch while also having a shot at revenge.

Duxbury has already won the Patriot League Keenan Division for the fifth season in a row, 7-0 vs. Keenan opponents play thus far with a ridiculous plus-37 goal differential (41-4) in those games. But outside of the Keenan, they are just 3-5-2, including 1-3-1 vs. Patriot League Fisher Division opponents.

Previous meetings: Arlington Catholic beat Duxbury, 4-3, in the consolation bracket of last year's Buddy Ferreira Classic; Duxbury beat Arlington, 4-3, in a scrimmage at the Garrett Reagan Summit on Dec. 6.

Game 2: Hingham Harbormen (9-6-2, 20 points) vs. Archbishop Williams Bishops (8-5-2, 18 points), 3 p.m.

Hingham, last year's Div. 1 State Champion, is in a similar position to 2014-15. The Harbormen were 9-8-1 entering the Buddy Ferreira last season, considered a Super 8 long shot at best. They won their first two games over Arlington Catholic and Archies, tying Austin Prep in the championship game (AP won in an overtime player for purposes of the tournament). Hingham was considered the last team left out of the Super 8 field, and took the snub in stride, winning the Div. 1 title instead.

Should Hingham get to the final of the Ferreira again this year, a possible opponent could include BC High, Reading or Austin Prep, all on that Super 8 watch list, and a chance for a marquee victory.

Archies is in the same boat as Hingham, more or less; consider this an elimination game from Super 8 contention. The Bishops have the same opportunity as the Harbormen to go on a run, however, not only with potential opponents in the championship game, but also a makeup game with Austin Prep scheduled for Feb. 21.

Previous meeting: Last year's Buddy Ferreira Classic; Hingham won, 5-2.

Game 3: Austin Prep Cougars (12-2-1, 25 points) vs. Reading Rockets (10-2-6, 26 points), 5 p.m.

Austin Prep isn't a lock for the Super 8, but they should be in; its only losses are to last year's Super 8 championship game participants: Malden Catholic and St. John's Prep.

Reading, which at one point was 3-1-5, played itself back into the Super 8 conversation with a 6-game winning streak, kick-started by a 3-0 shutout of Hingham (at Pilgrim Arena in Hingham) on Jan. 18. However, a 1-1-1 stretch against three teams on the Super 8 watch list (lost to Arlington, beat Winchester, tied Woburn) means the Rockets still have plenty of work to do if they want to get into the Super 8 field.

Reading was supposed to play BC High on Monday night, but the game was PPD due to snow. Should the stars align, they'll get to play BCH in Falmouth, in addition to their regularly scheduled game, of which a make-up date has yet to be announced.

Previous meeting: Have not played in last two seasons.

Game 4: BC High Eagles (12-0-3, 27 points) vs. Falmouth Clippers (8-7-2, 18 points), 7 p.m.

Day 1 of the tournament finishes off with the host-Clippers attempting to do what no team has yet accomplished this winter: beat BC High.

The Eagles are clearly the team to beat in the Super 8, the lone remaining unbeaten team in the Div. 1 ranks. Their goal differential of plus-41 (61-20) is solid; only Braintree and Franklin have allowed fewer goals than BCH in Div. 1. (Malden Catholic, which split the Catholic Conference title with the Eagles by going 5-0-3 in league play, has also allowed 20).

BC High has won all of its non-league games by at least two goals, outscoring opponents 33-6 in seven non-conference games.

Falmouth is 3-6-1 outside of the Atlantic Coast League, and sports a minus-3 goal differential (26-29) outside of the friendly confines of the ACL. But they are safely in the postseason thanks to a guaranteed top-2 finish in league play, and could still win a share of the league title with a win over Marshfield on Feb. 20.

Previous meeting: Jan. 20, 2015: BC High 5, Reading 0.

Monday's schedule is as follows:

Game 5--1 p.m.: Arlington Catholic/Duxbury loser vs. Hingham/Archies loser

Game 6--3 p.m.: Reading/Austin Prep loser vs. BC High/Falmouth loser

Game 7--5 p.m.: Arlington Catholic/Duxbury winner vs. Hingham/Archies winner

Game 8--7 p.m.: Reading/Austin Prep winner vs. BC High/Falmouth winner

Wednesday's schedule:

Game 9--5 p.m.: Game 5 loser vs. Game 6 loser

Game 10--7 p.m.: Game 5 winner vs. Game 6 winner

Thursday's Schedule:

Game 11--5 p.m.: Third Place Game (Game 7 loser vs. Game 8 loser)

Game 12--7 p.m.: 2016 Buddy Ferreira Classic Championship Game (Game 7 winner vs. Game 8 winner)

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