D3: Men’s midseason awards, team rankings and predictions

UNE's Brady Fleurent is the midseason D3 Player of the Year. (David Bates)

When independent Anna Maria (Mass.) College closed out a 5-3 win over Bryn Athyn on Friday, the first semester of hockey for Division 3 teams in New England officially came to a close for the holiday break.

The next games involving teams from the region will be on Dec. 29. After a weekend or two of largely non-conference games, conference play will resume with a vengeance as teams try to position themselves in the best ways for league and -- for some -- NCAA tournament success.

All four New England conferences are tight at the top, no first-place team ahead by more than three points. As we hit the break, the leaders are Salve Regina (8-3-1) in the Commonwealth Coast, Plymouth State (8-1-1) in the MASCAC, UMass-Boston (11-2) in the NEHC and Williams (5-2-1) in the NESCAC.

Let’s take a quick review.