MIDDLEBURY — The Middlebury Union High School girls’ hockey team received the No. 2 seed in Division I from the Vermont Principals’ Association on Thursday and will host a quarterfinal playoff game on Wednesday.
The defending Division II champion Tigers (15-5) will entertain No. 7 Rutland (7-11-2) at 7 p.m. The Raiders and Tigers met twice this winter, with MUHS winning by 5-1 and 1-0.
The winner of that contest will advance to a semifinal against either No. 3 Northfield (12-5-3) or No. 6 Spaulding (10-8) at a time and date to be announced. MUHS split games with each of those teams this season.
The D-I final will be played on March 3 at the University of Vermont.
MUHS and Essex (14-6) finished tied atop the D-I standings with 40 points, but the VPA awarded the defending D-I champion Hornets the No. 1 seed on a tiebreaker. Burr & Burton (12-7-1) is seeded fourth, and BFA-St. Albans is the No. 5 seed.
Essex caught MUHS for the top seed on this past Wednesday, the last night of the regular season. While the Hornets won at Northfield, 4-3 in overtime, the Tigers were dropping a 1-0 contest to St. Albans.
In that game, the Comets’ Taylor Jackson scored late in the first period, and BFA goalie Haley Cooper made that strike stand up with 20 saves. Tiger goalie Baily Ryan stopped 15 shots.