Playoff Picture: Field Hockey (Oct. 18)

The field hockey regular season is complete and the NHIAA is expected to release the official playoff brackets on Monday.

But who wants to wait until then? Here is what I expect the playoff pairings to be when the brackets are released.

Note: For field hockey, all three divisions should have 11 teams make the playoffs, based on the NHIAA's 70-percent rule. Standings based off results reported to NHIAA.org and other media outlets. These are not official standings or pairings.

A Note On Rating

The number that determines a team's seeding isn't in fact the win-loss record, but rather it's rating. Teams get a certain amount of points per win, and that total is divided by the number of games played to figure out the rating.

A win against a team in the same division gets you four points, while teams playing against an opponent from a higher division (for example, Division II vs. Division I), receive five points for a win. However, if a D1 team beats a D2 team, it is still worth four points. The NHIAA has a chart here that covers how it works.

Above that chart, you'll notice a section about ties, which are only possible in three sports: ice hockey, soccer and field hockey. Ties get a team half the points of a win, which is the reason for this note.

There are three teams (Souhegan, Hollis Brookline and Milford) from D2 who tied a team in D1, meaning they should receive 2.5 points for that tie. As of this posting, the new NHIAA website is not showing the extra 0.5 for these results.

That extra half-point does not affect the seeding for Souhegan or Milford, but it does for Hollis Brookline. The D2 section below includes the 0.5.

Division I

Team (record, rating, previous)

1. Winnacunnet (15-0, 4.0000, 1st)
2. Pinkerton (13-1-2, 3.5000, 2nd)
3. Keene (12-4, 3.0000, 3rd)
4. Bedford (10-6, 2.5000, 4th)
5. Merrimack (10-6, 2.5000, 5th)
6. Dover (8-6-2, 2.2500, 6th)
7. Exeter (9-7, 2.2500, 7th)
8. Londonderry (8-7-1, 2.1250, 8th)
9. Portsmouth (8-7-1, 2.1250, 10th)
10. Bishop Guertin (7-7-2, 2.0000, 9th)
11. Timberlane (7-8-1, 1.8750, 11th)

Eliminated: Goffstown (6-8-2, 1.7500); Concord (6-10, 1.5000); Windham (5-10-1, 1.3750); Nashua South (4-11-1, 1.1250); Salem (2-14, 0.5000); Nashua North (0-16, 0.0000).

Tiebreakers

• Bedford wins the tiebreaker with Merrimack thanks to a head-to-head victory.
• Dover wins the tiebreaker with Exeter thanks to a head-to-head victory.
• Londonderry (1.7500) wins the tiebreaker with Portsmouth (0.0000) thanks to a better rating against tournament teams.

First-Round byes

1. Winnacunnet
2. Pinkerton
3. Keene
4. Bedford
5. Merrimack

First-Round matchups (changes in bold)

• No. 9 Portsmouth at No. 8 Londonderry
• No. 11 Timberlane at No. 6 Dover
• No. 10 Bishop Guertin at No. 7 Exeter

Playoff Dates

• Preliminary Round: Wednesday, Oct. 21, 3 p.m. at higher seed.
• Quarterfinals: Saturday, Oct. 24, 2 p.m. at higher seed.
• Semifinals: Wednesday, Oct. 28, 5 and 7 p.m. at Bill Ball Stadium, Exeter.
• Championship: Saturday, Oct. 31, 3 p.m. at Bedford High School

Division II

Teams (record, rating, previous)

1. Souhegan (14-0-2, 3.9688, 1st)
2. Bow (14-1, 3.8000, 2nd)
3. Hanover (12-2-1, 3.3333, 3rd)
4. St. Thomas (9-5, 2.5714, 4th)
5. Plymouth (8-6-1, 2.2667, 6th)
6. Lebanon (9-7, 2.2500, 5th)
7. Hollis Brookline (7-6-3, 2.1563, 7th)
8. John Stark (8-7-1, 2.1250, 8th)
9. Kingswood (8-7-1, 2.1250, 9th)
10. Oyster River (7-7-1, 2.0000, 10th)
11. Merrimack Valley (6-9-1, 1.6250, 11th)

Eliminated: Kennett (5-10-1, 1.3750); Milford (5-10-1, 1.2188); ConVal (3-13, 0.8125); Manchester (2-14, 0.5625); Pembroke (1-15, 0.3125).

Tiebreakers

• John Stark wins the tiebreaker with Kingswood thanks to a head-to-head victory.

First-Round byes (changes in bold)

1. Souhegan
2. Bow
3. Hanover
4. St. Thomas
5. Plymouth

First-Round matchups

• No. 9 Kingswood at No. 8 John Stark
• No. 11 Merrimack Valley at No. 6 Lebanon
• No. 10 Oyster River at No. 7 Hollis Brookline

Playoff Dates

• Preliminary Round: Tuesday, Oct. 20, 3 p.m. at higher seed.
• Quarterfinals: Friday, Oct. 23, 3 p.m. at higher seed.
• Semifinals: Tuesday, Oct. 27, 5 and 7 p.m. at Bill Ball Stadium, Exeter.
• Championship: Saturday, Oct. 31, 7 p.m. at Bedford High School

Division III

Team (record, rating, previous)

1. Gilford (14-1-1, 3.6250, 1st)
2. Mascenic (12-1-1, 3.5714, 2nd)
3. Kearsarge (13-2, 3.4667, 3rd)
4. Hopkinton (12-2, 3.4286, 4th)
5. Berlin (11-4-1, 3.0000, 5th)
6. Newfound (10-3-2, 2.9333, 6th)
7. Derryfield (9-4-1, 2.7143, 7th)
8. Stevens (6-7-2, 1.8667, 8th)
9. Conant (6-8, 1.7143, 9th)
10. Laconia (6-10, 1.5000, 11th)
11. Mascoma Valley (5-9-1, 1.4667, 10th)

Eliminated: Newport (4-10-1, 1.2000); Monadnock (3-13, 0.7500); Pelham (2-12, 0.5714); Sanborn (1-12, 0.3077); Winnisquam (0-15, 0.0000).

Tiebreakers

• None

First-Round Byes

• No. 1 Gilford
• No. 2 Mascenic
• No. 3 Kearsarge
• No. 4 Hopkinton
• No. 5 Berlin

First-Round Matchups

• No. 9 Conant at No. 8 Stevens
• No. 10 Laconia at No. 7 Derryfield
• No. 11 Mascoma Valley at No. 6 Newfound

Playoff Dates

• Preliminary Round: Thursday, Oct. 22, 3 p.m. at higher seed.
• Quarterfinals: Monday, Oct. 26, 3 p.m. at higher seed.
• Semifinals: Thursday, Oct. 29, 5 and 7 p.m. at Bill Ball Stadium, Exeter.
• Championship: Saturday, Oct. 31, 5 p.m. at Bedford High School