WAKEFIELD — The brackets for the MIAA hockey and basketball state tournaments were released on Saturday.
Wakefield’s girls’ and boys’ basketball and the boys’ hockey team will all play first round matchups this week.
The girls’ basketball team will host their first round game after earning the No. 16 seed in Div. 2 with a record of 15-5. The Warriors will meet No. 17 Bishop Fenwick (9-11) on Thursday night, 6 p.m. at the Charbonneau Field House.
The winner will advance to the Sweet 16 where a trip to top-seeded and reigning state champion Medfield (18-2) likely awaits.
The boys’ hockey team earned the No. 22 seed in Div. 3. Wakefield (2-16-2) will travel to No. 11 Methuen High (13-4-3) on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. The winner will play the winner of No. 6 Bedford (16-3-1) and No. 27 West Springfield (9-7-4) in the Round of 16.
The boys’ basketball team earned the No. 20 seed in Div. 2 with a record of 10-10. The Warriors will travel to No. 13 Holyoke (15-4) on Thursday night at 7 p.m. The winner moves on to the
Sweet 16 where they will play the winner of No. 4 Oliver Ames (18-4) and their first round matchup which is yet to be determined as No. 29 Archbishop Williams and No. 36 Marblehead are playing a preliminary round game first.
Second round matchups will likely all take place next week.
The girls’ basketball team will see a big crowd at the field house on Thursday as the home fans will need to compete with the Crusaders of Peabody and surrounding communities. Most first round matchups in the statewide format feature a long bus ride for one team, thus making it hard for fans to travel but this game will have plenty of support for both squads. The Warriors enter the tournament with a new Middlesex League Freedom Division championship trophy. They went 14-2 in league play this year and are led by senior captains Shea Suntken, Brooklyn Calder and Jade Waterhouse along with junior Emma Ickes.
The boys’ hockey team will have about a 45-minute ride up to Methuen High which has the rare luxury of a rink at their school. The MIAA’s power rankings are based on record, team rating, opponent rating and average margin of victory which unfortunately is still very much subjective. Leagues and teams are often put in a familiar box. A good example? Last year, Wakefield hockey had the No. 23 seed while Methuen had No. 11. This year, No. 22 vs. No. 11 should be a good matchup regardless of the differences in overall record as the Warriors worked through a difficult season against many of the state’s best teams in Div. 1 and 2. Wakefield is led by senior captain Trevor Veilleux — who has played all over the ice this season — along with junior forwards JP Casey and Brady Walsh and junior goalie David Rocca.
The boys’ basketball team has the longest trip of the first round for Warrior squads. Their bus ride to Holyoke, which is just north of Springfield, will take about 2 hours. Holyoke made a run to the D2 state quarterfinals as the No. 8 seed last year before falling to eventual champion Malden Catholic. The Lancers of MC are the top seed again this year as they go for their fourth consecutive D2 state championship led by senior captain and Wakefield native Matt Gaffney who is committed to play basketball at Navy. Wakefield will bring plenty of talent of their own to Holyoke on Thursday night. Junior captain Jack Millward entered the 1,000 point scoring club against Beverly last Monday. He has set the new school record for points in a single game with 51 in a triple OT win over Salem on Feb. 5 and broke the previous record of 42 again in a win over Wilmington on Feb. 13 with 44 points. Millward combines with senior captains and forwards Matthew Beaver and Jackson Fitzpatrick to give the Warriors an experienced, long and athletic team.
Updates and recaps for each game will appear at a later date.
