RinkWise podcast: Previewing the boys and girls prep playoffs

It's hard to believe the NEPSAC playoffs are already upon us.

The brackets for the boys and girls Elite 8, Large School and Small School tournaments will be unveiled on Sunday.

There are still a few precious games remaining in the regular season as teams continue to jockey for positioning. Some teams are still trying to hold onto Elite 8 seeds or sneak in at the last second, but, overall, the pictures in each tournament are becoming fairly clear heading into the weekend.

New England Hockey Journal Editor Evan Marinofsky and writer Patrick Donnelly took a deep dive into the projected tournament fields entering the boys and girls prep school playoffs. They broke down some of the top storylines to follow as well.

RinkWise podcast: NEPSAC hockey playoff preview

The most compelling projected boys Elite 8 first-round matchup:

Marinofsky: "The one that I'm looking at is St. Sebastian's and Kimball Union. Again, Seb's has basically snuck in the last few weeks. They were very up and down. ... They're not finishing No. 1 like we had them at the beginning of the year, but they're still there and finishing admirably. ... I would err on the side of Kimball Union, but Seb's is good. I could see that Seb's and Kimball Union game being like 6-4 or 8-6. I could see that just being a shootout."

Surprising teams in the projected girls Elite 8 field:

Donnelly: "I shouldn't say I'm surprised Tabor is back in it, but it's kind of like some of the teams we were talking about on the boy's side, where they struggled so much in the middle of the season. It was kind of right in those dog days there in January. They were 1-4-2 to start the month. They really kind of struggled for some offense there. ... But from the end of January through now, they've been awesome. They've only lost twice, and they're right up there with Andover as one of the hottest teams in the region right now."