Boys Ice Hockey State Tournament Pairings Posted

The "real" boys ice hockey season begins late Friday afternoon for a pair of Connecticut high school teams, and Monday and Tuesday for 45 others as brackets for the three CIAC state tournaments were released late Friday morning.

Fairfield Prep and the Farmington Valley co-op each return to defend their titles in Divisions I and II, respectively. A new titleholder will emerge from Division III, as the 2018 winner, the Eastern CT Eagles, moved up to Division II this season.

Here are the opening tournament games for teams from Patch towns in Middlesex and New London counties. Click the division headers for complete brackets.

DIVISION I
All games on 3/5

• No. 9 West Haven at No. 8 Xavier, 7 p.m.

DIVISION II
Qualifying round, 3/1

• No. 17 East Haven co-op at No. 16 Trumbull, 5 p.m.

First round
All games on 3/4

• Trumbull/East Haven winner at No. 1 Watertown/Pomperaug, 7 p.m.
• No. 14 Eastern CT Eagles at No. 3 Cheshire, 7 p.m.
• No. 9 Wethersfield/Middletown/Rocky Hill/Plainville at No. 8 E.O. Smith, 6:45 p.m.

DIVISION III
All games 3/4

• No. 16 Redhawks at No. 1 Daniel Hand, 6 p.m.
• No. 15 Masuk at No. 2 Lyman Hall/Haddam-Killingworth/Coginchaug, 8 p.m.

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