How will going back to the Super 8 impact MIAA hockey tournaments?

In 2021, the MIAA voted to pause the Super 8, which began in 1991, for equity reasons. The boys had a Super 8, while the girls didn't, and the MIAA's Blue Ribbon Committee recommended the MIAA make it equitable.

The MIAA agreed to halt the Super 8 (Division 1A tournament) until July 1, 2025.

It looks like the MIAA is going back — but with some changes.

Last Wednesday, the MIAA ice hockey committee voted 16-0 to have a Super 8 for boys and girls hockey beginning with the 2027-28 season.

The Super 8's return isn't official just yet. On Feb. 24, the Tournament Management Committee will consider it.

This proposal has boys and girls hockey doing pool play. There will be two, four-team divisions with each team playing every other squad once. The top two teams from each division will advance to the semifinals.

In the previous version of the Super 8, there were play-in games for teams 7, 8, 9 and 10, with the winners going to the Super 8 and the losers put back into their divisions' bracket. This time, the top eight teams based on the MIAA's power rankings system will go into the Super 8, and teams can't opt out.

Now that the ground rules have been laid, let's react. Editor Evan Marinofsky and writer Patrick Donnelly gave their first reactions to the news.

1. First impressions of the Super 8 coming back? 

Marinofsky: It's not a huge surprise. On the boys side, people have been clamoring for the Super 8 since it was stopped, and it went as expected — the Catholic schools, who would've been favorites in the Super 8, won the Division 1 tournaments. St. John's Prep (twice), Pope Francis and Catholic Memorial have been the champs in the four tournaments since. The only public school in the runner-ups category was Winchester in 2024. I'm curious how it will play out on the girls side, which is why Pat is here...

Donnelly: I'm always in favor of more best-on-best hockey. A lot of the top teams already play each other throughout the season in out-of-conference matchups, like we see in the Tenney Cup. There is hardly any drop off (if any) from Div. 1 to the best teams in Div. 2. I'd love to see those matchups in a playoff setting.

READ MORE: Our girls MIAA midseason report

2. What will the positive impact be on the tournaments? 

Marinofsky: The Catholic and private schools will likely go head-to-head in the Super 8, which makes it more possible for the public schools to win in the regular Div. 1 bracket. That makes both tournaments more interesting in that fans will likely get to see the best of the best in the publics and privates crown a champion. However, it's never that simple. Right now, Hingham and Arlington (Div. 1) and Tewksbury (Div. 2, more on this in a bit) would be in the Super 8. So the top publics would have a chance to prove themselves in the Super 8. That's a great development, too.

Also, I've had experience with this. I'd like to think my Framingham team in 2017 would've run the table and still gone to the Div. 1 final without the Super 8, but that probably would've been unlikely if we had to go up against teams that would've been high seeds in the Super 8.

Donnelly: The biggest thing for me is having the best teams play each other in playoff settings. In 2024, I wasn't unconvinced that Duxbury wasn't the best top-to-bottom team in the state. I ranked them No. 1 in my final rankings, and they went on to win a second-straight Div. 2 title. I would've loved to have seen them go up against a St. Mary's or a Notre Dame (Hingham) for a Super 8 title.

While I don't think the public vs. private debate is as prevalent on the girls side, there is an element of it in Div. 1 every so often. In 2024, each of the final four teams was a Catholic school. St. Mary's won that year over Notre Dame (Hingham). Austin Prep won in 2022 before joining NEPSAC. AP also reached the final in 2020 before the pandemic put a stop to the tournament. Now, the publics have had plenty of success, too. Hingham won in 2025. The final four last season were almost entirely publics (Bishop Stang is a co-op that includes several publics). Shrewsbury won in 2023 as well. In the years where the private schools dominate, the Super 8 opens more avenues for a public champion in a regular Division 1 bracket.

READ MORE: Our boys MIAA midseason report

3. What are the negatives of the Super 8 coming back? 

Marinofsky: You'll still get upsets if/when the new rules are passed...but it won't be the same magnitude as the upsets have been in the past few Div. 1 tournaments. Then-No. 11 Winchester taking down then-No. 3 Catholic Memorial in the 2024 Elite 8 comes to mind. In a Super 8 world, they are in different tournaments. In 2023, then-No. 25 Arlington Catholic beat then-No. 8 BC High in the Round of 32. That year, then-No. 14 Reading beat then-No. 3 Hingham in the Round of 16. And, of course, we all know that the 2024 Winchester team should've had the chance to take then-No. 1 St. John's Prep to overtime in the Div. 1 championship. Is this enough to stop the Super 8 from coming back? Absolutely not. But it was so cool to track.

One other potential negative on the boys side: You can't opt out. And since it's judged off the power rankings, no matter your division, there could be teams in Division 2, 3 or 4 that make it who would rather be in the regular bracket. Tewksbury, as of now, would be in the Super 8 if it were to be played this year. They would likely want to prove themselves in the Super 8 bracket. But they might also think, "Hey, this is our year, we want the highest likelihood of winning a title, and that would come in the Division 2 tournament."

Donnelly: "The upsets and Cinderella runs are what make the MIAA tournaments so compelling." Last year, Bishop Stang made the Div. 1 girls final as the 15th seed. Stang beat the second, sixth and seventh seeds on its run. Division 2's final featured No. 6 Milton and No. 13 Medfield. Medfield upset No. 1 Westwood in the semis. You probably won't see as many upsets of that magnitude with the Super 8, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't come back.

Also, pool play isn't as exciting as the old best-of-three series, which is how the Super 8 used to determine who would move on, but the benefits outweigh the negatives. The MIAA won't have to pay for ice that will go unused if there is no Game 3 in a best-of-three.

READ MORE: Full schedule, results for Ed Burns Coffee Pot tournament

4. What could cause the Tournament Management Committee to vote 'no' on the Super 8? 

Marinofsky: From what I understand, it's highly unlikely. But one area of contention could be with the proposal of how the Super 8 is played (pool play). Still, I doubt enough of the committee would vote against the proposal to prevent it from happening.

Donnelly: There are some potential pitfalls of pool play. What will tie-breakers look like (if needed)? Does it come down to goal-differential or something else? Those are questions that I assume the committee will answer before we even see a Super 8 game on the ice. So, it's hard to see a 'no' vote.