BRACKET BREAKDOWN: MIAA announces boys and girls high school hockey tournament field

March Madness is finally here.

The MIAA announced the high school basketball and hockey tournament pairings on Saturday.

Cape Cod will be represented by seven boys hockey teams and six girls hockey teams. The Nauset boys are the highest-ranked team, coming in at No. 4 in Division 3. The Sandwich boys will try to defend their Div. 4 state title. The Sandwich girls enter the tournament as a No. No. 6 seed.

Div. 4 boys has the most local flare. Sandwich, Nantucket, Dennis-Yarmouth and Martha's Vineyard are all ranked inside the top 10. The Falmouth and Sandwich girls are both ranked inside the top 10 in Div. 2.

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BOYS

Division 1

The Field

1. St. John's Prep

2. Catholic Memorial

3. Hingham

4. Pope Francis

5. Marshfield

6. Arlington

7. Xaverian

8. BC High

9. Saint John's

10. Belmont

11. Braintree

12. Franklin

13. Wellesley

14. Reading Memorial

15. St. Mary's

16. Archbishop Williams

17. Lincoln-Sudbury

18. Central Catholic

19. Woburn Memorial

20. Malden Catholic

21. Andover

22. Weymouth

23. Chelmsford

24. Winchester

25. Arlington Catholic

26. Shrewsbury

27. Westford Academy

28. Needham

29. Bishop Feehan

30. King Philip

31. Milton

32. Waltham

33. Lexington

Bracket breakdown

State champ prediction: No. 3 Hingham

Best first-round game: No. 22 Weymouth at No. 11 Braintree

Upset pick: No. 21 Andover over No. 12 Frankling

Division 2

The Field

1. Tewksbury

2. Duxbury

3. Canton

4. Walpole

5. Silver Lake

6. Newburyport

7. Algonquin

8. Hopkinton

9. Whitman-Hanson

10. Wakefield

11. Plymouth South

12. Glouchester

13. Somerset Berkley

14. Masconomet

15. Boston Latin

16. Marblehead

17. Norwood

18. Concord-Carlisle

19. Wilmington

20. Auburn

21. Oliver Ames

22. Westboro

23. Plymouth North

24. Westwood

25. North Attleboro

26. Newton South

27. Melrose

28. Mansfield

29. Minnechaug

30. Medford

31. Dartmouth

32. Lowell Catholic

33. Haverhill

34. Diman

35. Agawam

36. Somervile

Bracket breakdown

State champ prediction: No. 2 Duxbury

Best first-round game: No. 17 Norwood at No. 16 Marblehead

Upset pick: No. 21 Oliver Ames over No. 12 Gloucester

Division 3

The Field

1. Scituate

2. Lynnfield

3. Medfield

4. Nauset

5. Watertown

6. Marlboro

7. Hanover

8. Essex North Shore

9. Pembroke

10. Triton

11. Nashoba

12. Dracut

13. Hopedale

14. North Middlesex

15. Metheun

16. Seekonk

17. Taunton

18. Bedford

19. West Springfield

20. East Longmeadow

21. North Quincy

22. Groton-Dunstable

23. Danvers

24. Saint Paul

25. Northbridge

26. North Reading

27. Middleboro

28. Southeastern/Bristol-Plymouth

29. Pentucket

30. Old Rochester Regional

31. Foxboro

32. Bishop Stang

33. Ludlow

34. Easthampton

Bracket breakdown

State champ prediction: No. 4 Nauset

Best first-round game: No. 21 North Quincy at No. 12 Dracut

Upset pick: No. 23 Danvers over No. 10 Triton

Who do the Cape Cod locals play?

No. 29 Pentucket at No. 4 Nauset

Favorite, contender or underdog?

No. 4 Nauset - favorite: The Warriors are clearly in the state-title mix in Div. 3. The top five seeds in the bracket are all bunched pretty closely together, so Nauset's road to TD Garden will be filled with tough matchups

Division 4

The Field

1. Norwell

2. Sandwich

3. Winthrop

4. Grafton

5. Shawsheen Valley Tech

6. Nantucket

7. Dennis-Yarmouth

8. Martha's Vineyard

9. Stoneham

10. Ashland

11. Abington

12. Hull

13. Rockland

14. Assabet Valley

15. Boston Latin Academy

16. Blackstone Valley Tech

17. Norton

18. Dover-Sherborn

19. Amesbury

20. Dedham

21. Swampscott

22. East Bridgewater

23. Littleton

24. Greenfield

25. Fitchburg

26. Bourne

27. Northeast Metro

28. Hamilton-Wenham

29. Rockport

30. Belchertown

31. Saint John Paul II

32. Gardner

33. Taconic

34. Saint Bernard's

35. Nashoba Valley Tech

Bracket breakdown

State champ prediction: Sandwich

Best first-round game: No. 26 Bourne at No. 7 Dennis-Yarmouth

Upset pick: No. 19 Amesbury over No. 14 Assabet Valley

Who do the Cape Cod locals play?

No. 34 Saint Bernard's at No. 31 Saint John Paul II (preliminary round)

No. 34 Saint Bernard's/No. 31 Saint John Paul II winner at No. 2 Sandwich

No. 25 Fitchburg at No. 8 Martha's Vineyard

No. 26 Bourne at No. 7 Dennis-Yarmouth

No. 27 Northeast Metro at No. 6 Nantucket

Favorite, contender or underdog?

No. 2 Sandwich - Favorite: The defending state champs are right back in the mix this year. No. 1 Norwell leads the league in withs with a 20-1 record. No. 3 Winthrop is also in that group of favorites. The Blue Knights might have to get through several familiar Cape competitors this postseason.

No. 6 Nantucket - Contender: The Whalers played one of the tougher schedules in Div. 4, so they'll be prepared for what they face in the tournament.

No. 7 Dennis-Yarmouth - Contender: The Dolphins are riding a lot of momentum heading into the tournament following three consecutive 7-1 wins. D-Y has one of the best offenses in the bracket.

No. 8 Martha's Vineyard - Contender: Although the Vineyarders are 2-2 in their last four, they're playing some of their best hockey of the year. Those two losses were competitive against the two best teams on Cape in Sandwich and Nauset.

No. 26 Bourne - Underdog: A tough schedule landed the Canalmen in the tournament. Their first-round matchup against D-Y is those teams' first meeting this season and Bourne is certainly not a team to be overlooked in that one.

No. 31 Saint John Paul II - Underdog: If the Lions can win their preliminary-round game against Saint Bernard's, No. 2 Sandwich awaits. That would be a massive upset.

GIRLS

Division 1

The Field

1. St. Mary's of Lynn

2. Notre Dame Academy of Hingham

3. Shrewsbury

4. Haverhill

5. Winthrop

6. Hingham

7. Bishop Feehan

8. Peabody

9. Methuen

10. Arlington

11. Longmeadow

12. Bishop Stang

13. Billerica

14. Pope Francis

15. Cape Cod Furies

16. Plymouth South

17. Bishop Fenwick

18. Reading Memorial

19. Stoneham

20. Westford Academy

21. Whitman-Hanson

22. Newburyport

23. Beverly

24. Acton-Boxboro

25. Shawsheen Valley Tech

26. Auburn

27. Arlington Catholic

28. Hopkinton

29. Marblehead

30. ORRBMW

31. Newton Nortj

32. Medford

Bracket breakdown

State champ prediction: No. 1 St. Mary's of Lynn

Best first-round game: No. 18 Reading at No. 15 Cape Cod Furies

Upset pick: No. 21 Whitman-Hanson over No. 12 Bishop Stang

Who do the Cape Cod locals play?

No. 18 Reading at No. 15 Cape Cod Furies

No. 30 ORRBMW at No. 3 Shrewsbury

Favorite, contender or underdog?

No. 15 Cape Cod Furies - Underdog: If the Furies can win their Round of 32 game, state-title favorite No. 2 Notre Dame Academy will likely be awaiting them in the Round of 16.

No. 30 ORRBMW - Underdog: No. 3 Shrewsbury is right in the state-title mix, so this is a tough draw.

Division 2

The Field

1. Archbishop Williams

2. Duxbury

3. Andover

4. Canton

5. Algonquin

6. Sandwich

7. Falmouth

8. Winchester

9. Burlington

10. Malden Catholic

11. Lincoln-Sudbury

12. Dedham

13. Milton

14. Pembroke

15. Martha's Vineyard

16. Medway

17. Barnstable

18. Norwood

19. Franklin

20. Framingham

21. Braintree

22. King Philip

23. Belmont

24. Norwell

25. Waltham

26. Medfield

27. Leominster

28. Natick

29. Westwood

30. Wellesley

31. Matignon

32. Walpole

33. Boston Latin

34. Central Catholic

Bracket breakdown

State champ prediction: No. 2 Duxbury

Best first-round game: No. 18 Norwood at No. 15 Martha's Vineyard

Upset pick: No. 21 Braintree over No. 12 Dedham

Who do the Cape Cod locals play?

No. 17 Barnstable at No. 16 Medway

No. 27 Leominster at No. 6 Sandwich

No. 26 Medfield at No. 7 Falmouth

No. 18 Norwood at No. 15 Martha's Vineyard

Favorite, contender or underdog?

No. 6 Sandwich - Contender: Last season, Div. 2 proved to be one of the more wide-open brackets as the Nos. 5, 9, 10 and 22 seeds reached the Final Four. The Blue Knights might be in the most wide-open quadrant of the Div. 2 bracket.

No. 7 Falmouth - Contender: No. 2 Duxbury looms large down the road, but the Clippers have to win two games before that's even a thought. A potential Round of 16 game against Malden Catholic could be one of the best matchups of the bracket.

No. 15 Martha's Vineyard - Underdog: The Vineyarders got a tough draw, but this group will be a tough out. At 12-6-2, this team just knows how to win.

No. 17 Barnstable - Underdog: Last season as a No. 21 seed, Barnstable knocked off No. 12 Woburn before falling in overtime to No. 5 Natick. If a double-digit seed is to go on another deep run, the Red Hawks might be the pick.

This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: MIAA high school boys and girls hockey tournament pairings