Telegraph Sports Reporter Tom KIng.

Welcome, March.

It’s always the light of spring at the end of a long winter tunnel.

Of course, a year ago, it’s when it felt like the world ended, the night of March 11 when the NBA and NCAA paused or cancelled their seasons or post seasons, hockey soon after, and MLB closed camps a couple of days later.

High school tournaments that were left in Divisions I and II hoops plus boys and girls hockey were done.

And now? March offers hope, hope that local teams can avoid any pandemic pauses that would end their seasons. That the NCAA March Madness tourney can go on as scheduled, both for the men and the women. That spring training can be held as we approach a 162-game baseball season.

Consider these key local and national dates:

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MONDAY-TUESDAY, MARCH 1-2

It’s the start of the state high school boys and girls basketball tournaments with play-in games, plus the girls hockey prelims on Tuesday. For boys hoops, check out Nashua South-Bishop Guertin on Monday night and South-Alvirne for the girls on Tuesday. Really, with the blind draws, these are the first games all winter that will actually count.

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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 3

It’s the second round (prelims) for girls basketball, but also the first day/night of the boys hockey tournament. How can one scribe possibly be in two places at once, right?

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SATURDAY, MARCH 6

The busiest Saturday of the winter, with boys hockey and boys basketball quarterfinals, which basically are the regional/pod finals. There will be plenty of intriguing matchups, many of them all local. Outstanding.

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SUNDAY, MARCH 7

This will be the day for girls basketball’s quarterfinals (regional finals). But you know what else it is? The controversial NBA All-Star Game in Atlanta.

That just begs the question, why? $$$ is the answer.

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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 10

Hockey and boys hoop semis. The NHIAA is checking out neutral sites for hoop, while hockey has mainstay JFK Coliseum for the Division I semis, Dover Ice Arena for Divison II and Everett Arena for Division III.

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SATURDAY-SUNDAY, MARCH 13-14

This is a huge weekend for a lot of reasons. The boys high school hoop finals will be on Saturday, while the girls finals will be Sunday. Also, boys hockey at the above semifinal locations are Saturday, with the girls final on Saturday as well. But the girls are at Dover Ice Arena, which is going to be a haul for all involved.

We would’ve loved to have seen Conway Arena take part in this. Someday.

Also this weekend, the Bruins play the Rangers in a TD Garden matinee on the 13th while Sunday is also the NCAA Tourney Selection Sunday. Remember, the entire tourney is being held in the state of Indiana, which will be interesting in itself. Let’s see how the pandemic process works with this mega bubble.

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SATURDAY-SUNDAY MARCH 27-28

This should be the day of the NCAA tourney’s regional finals, leading to the Final Four the following weekend. Again, let’s see how it all unfolds, but it will give us something we didn’t have a year ago, just like the high school tournaments.

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MONDAY, MARCH 29

The high school spring sports teams will begin tryouts and practices on this day/week, a two-week preseason that will lead to the start of the spring regular season on April 12. Major League Baseball’s Opening Day is that Thursday, April 1.

Spring will have already sprung. Let’s hope it’s much better than 2020.

It has to be, right?

Tom King may be reached at tking@nashuatelegraph.com, or on twitter at @Telegraph _TomK.

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