RallyNorth.net

A lot of sectional champions | especially those that win it all after being seeded as low as 12th to begin the tournament | are happy just to advance to the state semifinals.

You might say the Marblehead hockey team, the current Division 3 North champs, are happy with their playoff result so far.

Nobody in state hockey circles could have foreseen Marblehead's improbable run to the Division 3 state semifinals, right?

Wrong. Geno Faia did.

Faia, the head coach at arch rival Swampscott High, knew | just knew | that whoever got out of the Division 3 first round matchup between his Big Blue and the neighboring Headers was going to go very far in the state tournament.

Marblehead High junior winger Andrew Bates could have chosen not to play high school hockey.

The trend in recent years has been for top talent all over New England to forego their schoolboy days to chase on ice dreams in various prep school and junior league venues. To be sure, Bates certainly appears to have the skill set needed to do so.

There's no need for the boys on the Marblehead High hockey team to pinch themselves. Their amazing Cinderella run through the Division 3 North bracket might be a dream come true, but it is indeed a reality.

LOWELL | They came here for one reason: to win their final game.

Naturally, the St. John's Prep hockey team went into the Super 8 tournament intent on winning the whole thing. Never did they imagine they'd be playing a virtually meaningless contest on the final day of the first round.

NORTH BILLERICA -- If a picture is worth 1,000 words, the look on Marblehead senior Eric Fader's face as he hoisted the Division 3 North championship trophy might as well have been worth one million.

Simply put, one thousand words aren't enough to describe the joy Fader and the 12th-seeded Headers (14-10-0) felt when, against all odds, they dropped No. 2 Concord-Carlisle, 1-0, to win the first sectional title in school history at the Chelmsford Forum last night.

How many teams begin a season winless in their first four games, then wind up two games away from winning a state championship?

The Marblehead High hockey team doesn't know the answer | and you'll forgive them if they don't really care. That the Headers have managed to turn the trick themselves is enough to keep them occupied.

LOWELL | There was still a period left to play, but one look at the St. John's Prep bench at the end of the second period and you know this one was, for all intents and purposes, over.

Because both teams exited the ice at The Tsongas Arena at the far end of the rink, the Eagles | on the bench furthest away | had to wait for their opponents, the Xaverian Hawks, to clear the ice first.

WOBURN | Despite the result Sunday evening, Andover's players were still quick to skate onto the ice and congratulate their goalie, Nick Drew, on his outstanding performance.

"Nicky played incredible," said Andover captain John Hyslip. "He kept us in this game and kept us in this season. He was amazing."

An ever-growing Newburyport hockey fan base stood stoically for the better part of two hours last evening.

Clippers fans exchanged few words during their team's 4-0 loss to Tewksbury in the Division 2 North semifinal at Richard H. Rockett Rink. The capacity crowd, which seemed to favor Newburyport in numbers, struggled to put words to the Clippers' first lopsided loss of the season.