The departed

Needham's 16-3-2 regular season helped it earn the seventh seed, but they hardly looked the part in dropping a 3-0 decision to Xaverian during Monday's play-in. Westford Academy ran into a red-hot goalie and -- despite some stellar play from its own netminder, Curtis Serafini -- couldn't outlast Waltham in a shootout.

Forsberg's thoughts: Westford is well equipped to follow in the footsteps of the 2006-07 Woburn squad (which lost in a Super 8 shootout before winning Division 1 North). Needham needs to regroup, but has potential to excel as the No. 1 seed in the South.