And you thought there was nothing else for me to post about.  This
    is kind of relevant because this is where the college players we
    discuss come from.
 
    In Massachusetts, there is a new tournament this year called the
    Super Eight, also referred to as Division 1A.  The best-of-the-
    best are selected from Divisions 1, 2, and 3 to play a double-
    elimination tourney for the state championship.  This year, seven
    DivI teams were picked along with one DivII team.  The seeds were:
 
    1. Catholic Memorial
    2. St John's Prep (Danvers)
    3. BC High
    4. Matignon
    5. Medford
    6. Reading
    7. Arlington
    8. Billerica
 
    The top four are Catholic schools, traditionally the state powerhouses,
    and the bottom four are public schools.  Matignon is the only Div2 team;
    they won five straight Div1 championships before a realignment forced
    them down to Div2 because of the school's size (and a desire of the rest
    of the other Div1 schools to get rid of them).  But they went on to win
    Div2 almost every year and now Div2 wants them out.  Similarly, the
    publics in Div1 have had it with the Catholic Conference's domination
    of the Div1 tourney; Catholic schools have now won the state title for
    about 12 straight years.  Voila!  The Super Eight was born, while keeping
    the Div1, 2, and 3 tourneys intact.
 
    This year, CM pounded St John's and Rhode Island powerhouse Mount St
    Charles in winning the prestigious Providence Journal-Bulletin High
    School Tourney earlier in the season.  Mount St Charles has won the
    RI state championship 12 or 13 years in a row and is where many
    Providence players come from.
 
    In Wednesday's first round, 1 played 8, 2 played 7, etc. and the top four
    seeds (all the Catholics) posted wins.  Upcoming matchups will be:
 
    Sat. 3/2  Reading v. Arlington at BU, 5:30 pm
              Billerica v. Medford at BU, 8 pm
    Mon. 3/4  St John's Prep v. BC High at Boston Garden, 5:30
              Catholic Memorial v. Matignon at Boston Garden, 8 pm
 
    BTW, BU's Shawn McEachern came from Matignon, where he had 52-40--92
    his senior year in 24 games; Catholic Memorial produced Harvard goalie
    Chuckie Hughes, Merrimack goalie Mike Doneghey, BU forwards Mike and
    Mark Bavis, and BU defensemen Stephen Foster and Kevin O'Sullivan;
    Medford produced BU forwards David Sacco and former Terrier/current
    Toronto Maple Leaf Joe Sacco; Billerica produced Atlanta Braves pitcher
    Tom Glavine, who led the state in scoring his senior year and turned
    down a hockey/baseball scholarship to Lowell to sign with the Braves
    (imagine Glavine at Lowell with Jon Morris!); St John's produced former
    BU forward Mike Kelfer and former RPI/Detroit defenseman Rob Schena;
    and former Maine forward Mike Golden is from Reading.
 
    There are many, many more players than I can list here from the schools
    above, and this isn't anywhere near a comprehensive list.  It's just to
    give an idea of the quality of player produced by these schools, public
    and Catholic alike.
 
    BC tends to get almost all its players from the elite Mass/Connecticut prep
    schools, while BU scoops up all the top Catholic/public players.  And
    Harvard, well, gets anyone it wants.  Now you know why many Northeastern,
    Lowell and Merrimack players are from Canada.
 
 
    - mike
 
    p.s. and my alma mater, Central Catholic, squeaked out a 4-3 double ot win
         over Winthrop yesterday in the "regular" Div1 tourney.