RinkWise podcast: Girls’ MIAA hockey in-season roundup

From left: Abby Holmes, Emma Holmes and Julia Holmes of Winthrop. (Joe Siciliano)

The girls’ MIAA hockey season is coming down to the final stretch. The games are heating up as schools make their best cases for seeding in the state tournament.

On the Division 1 side, St. Mary’s leads the pack, with Notre Dame (Hingham), Shrewsbury and Winthrop right behind.

In Division 2, Archbishop Williams ranks No. 1 in the latest MIAA power rankings, but Duxbury, Algonquin, Andover and Canton round out the top five.

On the latest episode of the RinkWise podcast, the Boston Herald’s Tom Mulherin joined host Stephanie Wood to discuss the girls’ MIAA hockey scene.

On Canton’s success: 

Mulherin: “They kind of went through it a little bit in the middle of the year with a loss to King Phillip and a couple of ties, but they’re on a six-game win streak. [Nikki Petrich] always says her team is No. 1 in her eyes and took down the No. 1 in the power rankings from Archbishop Williams so we’ll see if they can make another run towards the title.”

On the competitiveness of girls MIAA hockey: 

Mulherin: “Especially in D2, I forget the exact numbers when I did the research but the D2 girls hockey scene had more upsets than any other sport and they had the most double-digit seeds reach the Elite 8. You even look at the final — No. 9 Algonquin playing No. 10 Canton last year…Definitely a lot of parity.”