By Rich Palzewic
Sports Editor

STEVENS POINT – The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA) recently released the brackets for the upcoming boys’ and girls’ hockey tournament series.

The opening round of regional play for the boys is Tuesday, Feb. 2, at sites of the highest-seeded teams.

The second round is Thursday or Friday, Feb. 4-5.

Sectional semifinals are Tuesday, Feb. 9, with sectional finals being played Friday or Saturday, Feb. 12-13.

Girls’ regional play begins Feb. 4-5 and advances into sectional play Feb. 9.

Sectional final games will be Feb. 12-13.

Statewide, 73 teams are playing in the boys’ tournament, including 42 teams in Division 1 and 31 in Division 2, while 24 teams are competing in the girls’ tournament.

State tournament pairings will be determined by seeding all four teams, with the higher seeds hosting the state semifinal games.

State championship games will be played at the South Wood County Recreation Center in Wisconsin Rapids Saturday, Feb. 20.

All teams in the Green Bay area compete in Division 1.

The Notre Dame Academy boys earned a No. 1 seed and will play the winner of No. 8 Beaver Dam/No. 9 Appleton United in the opening round.

No. 5 Ashwaubenon and No. 4 De Pere will tangle in a first-round game, with the winner advancing to play the winner of the Notre Dame game.

No. 3 Bay Port is in the bottom half of the bracket and will host the winner of No. 6 West Bend West/No. 11 Xavier in the opening round.

The Bay Area Ice Bears, a co-op girls’ team consisting of players from six different local schools, earned a No. 4 seed and will host No. 5 Rhinelander in the opening game.

For the complete listing of the brackets, CLICK HERE.