Hockey Players Transferring Winter Puck Skills to Spring Golf Swings
By
Tom Lang
Special for MHSAA.com
May 26, 2023
When the Michigan seasons shift from winter to spring, some high school golf teams are a little more eager than others for the hockey season to officially end.
This is especially true for the school golf programs in Brighton, Hartland and Muskegon Mona Shores – examples of boys teams that love having hockey players transition from the indoor frozen ice to play golf outdoors on the lush green grass.
“I would take a golf team full of hockey players any day,” said Hartland golf coach Nathan Oake. “I love them.”
We can tell, because his program is full of them.
Hartland and Brighton each have eight hockey players on their 16-golfer varsity and JV rosters.
Mona Shores has three hockey players this year, but usually has more. In 2023 it’s Oliver MacDonald (all-state honorable mention in hockey), Nathan McNarland and Nicholas Taylor, who was voted Division 1 all-state golf last spring, then leading his team to fifth place at the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 1 Final.
Brighton golfer Winston Lerch was also Division 1 all-state last year in golf and an assistant captain on the hockey team this winter that finished Division 1 runner-up to Detroit Catholic Central. Here in 2023, he shot a 65 to open the season at Oakland University for medalist and has committed to Grand Valley State for golf with his 72-stroke average.
Joining Lerch in the Bulldogs boys golf program are hockey players like Levi Pennala, winner of hockey’s Wall Award sponsored by State Champs as the top high school goalie. Pennala – who recently shot 72 at the Kensington Lakes Activities Association championship tournament, his career low for high school golf – finished in the top 30 last year at the LPD1 Final. Then early this spring when he was away at a high-level junior hockey tournament, freshman hockey player Adam Forcier stepped in and shot a school record 18-hole round for a freshman at 73. Jacob Daavetilla also works into the starting lineup at times.
Forcier tied the record of Davis Codd – who, as a pro hockey player on leave from the Saginaw Spirit OHL hockey team when COVID-19 shut down the league, won the LPD1 Final in 2021 for Brighton.
Brighton golf coach Jimmy Dewling said Codd was one of the earliest to prove to others you can play both hockey and golf and excel. In fact, that June in 2021, Codd went to an NHL scouting camp in Pennsylvania before the Golf Finals, drove overnight back to Forest Akers to play the two championship rounds, won the title, then immediately returned to Pennsylvania to resume the hockey camp.
“On our team, we believe, and TBone (Codd) was a perfect example of it, if there’s any time you have the opportunity to be competitive, it is going to make you a more well-rounded competitor and therefore better at your particular sport,” Dewling said.
“We like hockey players. In the winter, they have to think to where the puck is going, be smart enough to react, and understand how that emotion is going to carry over from one play to the next. When it’s your shift you have to forget about the last shift, or take something from the last shift and put it into the next shift, to have consistent play.
“It’s the same on the golf course,” Dewling continued. “It’s one hole to the next, one shot at a time, being tough, and that’s only going to come from competition reps. We love the athletic ability more so than anything; the toughness and competitiveness all year.”
In addition to Lerch and Pennala starting on varsity golf, they are joined by traditional golfers Matt Doyle, Riley Morton and Andrew Daily, who is committed to Wayne State and finished LPD1 runner-up last spring.
Going into the 2023 golf postseason, Brighton is ranked No. 2 in Division 1. The Bulldogs have won the Next Tee Invite at Oakland Hills, the North Star Invite at Plum Hollow and the KLAA Conference Championship – earning Brighton’s first conference title since 2007. The Bulldogs also were runners-up at The Meadows Invite at Grand Valley State University. The team is averaging 297 for 18 holes.
Oake admitted this is a rebuilding year for Hartland’s golf program. The varsity lineup has only two returning players with varsity golf experience – Keller King and Brady Betteley.
“So, we opted to keep a group of tough competitors with a solid combination of speed and strength – and who are not concerned about the cold conditions that we play in,” Oake quipped.
Five others rotate into the Eagles’ golf starting lineup with King and Betteley: Isaac Frantti is an all-state hockey defensemen playing his first season of golf but shot a career-low 79 at American Dunes recently. He just signed a United State Premier Hockey League tender to play in Connecticut next year. Ian Kastamo scored the winning goal in Hartland’s Division 2 hockey championship victory in 2022, and LJ Sabala is a varsity hockey player as well.
Then there are two non-hockey freshmen getting shots to start occasionally – Dallas Korponic, who finished third at his weight at the Individual Wrestling Finals, and Michael Maurin. Five more sophomores and juniors are hockey players on the JV golf team.
“We hope to be competitive with (Brighton) again soon, but they have the talent to make a big splash this year,” Oake said. “I also play golf at the same club as many Brighton players, so I see them quite a bit and we are friendly. When the Brighton team walked by our team on a recent Monday and all said hello to me and our guys, one of my players looked at me and said that this was the biggest difference between hockey and golf. In hockey, the small talk would be (traded) for the ice, and it would not be very nice out there.
“Either way, I believe both sports are filled with fierce competitors and respect, but when the game is over a handshake and a golf hat tip are offered to the victor.”
This story was updated and reposted with permission of MIGolfJournal.com.
PHOTOS (Top) Brighton takes a team photo after finishing third at last season’s LPD1 Final, and all five golfers are back this season including hockey players Levi Pennala (second from left) and Winston Lerch (second from right.) (Middle) Hartland’s Ian Kastamo (16) takes a faceoff against Brighton this winter. (Below) Mona Shores’ Nicholas Taylor fires an iron shot. (Photos courtesy of High School Sports Scene, Sapshots Photography and Mona Shores’ athletic department, respectively.)
East Kentwood Run Part of Memorable Start on Knuble's Way to NHL, Olympics
By
Dean Holzwarth
Special for MHSAA.com
July 24, 2024
KENTWOOD – It’s been more than 30 years since the 1990 Class A championship hockey game was played in Flint.
However, Mike Knuble still recalls vividly a key moment that helped East Kentwood upset favored Trenton.
“One of our players scored on a fluky bounce with about seven or eight minutes left,” said Knuble, who recorded a hat trick in the 5-4 victory. “(Trenton) threw everything at us after that, and somehow we held them off and they weren’t able to score. Our goalie had a heck of a game, and it happened to be our night.”
The state title was the program’s first. It also marked the final game of a remarkable high school career for Knuble, who would eventually go on to have a lengthy career in the NHL.
The Falcons had lost in the 1989 Semifinals to Flint Powers Catholic, which helped fuel their run to the championship game the following season.
“We felt we should be there as a team,” said the 52-year-old Knuble, who tallied an eye-popping 103 points (63 goals/40 assists) his senior year.
“We got by Flint Powers, and the question was if we could win the final game. Trenton had a nice program for a number of years, and a lot of history. We wanted to keep it close and then hang on.”
The emergence of the East Kentwood hockey program, guided by legendary coach Ron Baum, was a community initiative.
“We had a real grassroots effort in the 80s to get a youth program started, and that filtered to the high school,” said Knuble. “We built the rink by hand, and I remember hauling hoses into the building for the sand flooring. It was a unique time in Kentwood with the amount of focus on the program and buy-in from the community.
“It was a real nice high school to play for in the late 80s and early 90s, and we always had competitive teams and nice players. We played a lot of hockey when we were younger.”
In 1991, Knuble was drafted by the Detroit Red Wings in the fourth round, 76th overall, and played the next four seasons at University of Michigan.
He earned Central Collegiate Hockey Association second-team honors twice and was named an NCAA West All-American in 1995.
“I was pretty raw so I had to develop my skills as a player, and someone in the Red Wings organization identified some potential in me,” Knuble said. “It’s one thing to be drafted and another thing to sign a pro contract, so the good thing was Michigan gave me a longer runway to develop as a player on and off the ice. It gave me extra time to get my game in order in the right environment under a great coach.”
Knuble made his NHL debut on March 26,1997, against the Colorado Avalanche. He played nine games, but not during the playoffs as the Red Wings went on to win their first Stanley Cup championship since 1955.
Knuble made the roster the following year and was a part of Detroit’s 1998 team that won the Stanley Cup for the second straight season.
“I didn't have a huge hand in it; the players that were there really drove that bus, and we were younger guys,” Knuble said. “We had a lot of fun and enjoyed ourselves, but at the end of the day you know who really won things and it was a great experience as a young player.
“You learn what it takes to be a pro, you watch how guys operate and how a winning team works. Everyone accepted their roles.”
Knuble, who resides in the Grand Rapids area, would ultimately play 16 seasons in the NHL with Detroit, the New York Rangers, Boston Bruins and Philadelphia Flyers.
He played in 1,068 games and scored 278 goals along with 270 assists.
“As a player you go through cycles,” Knuble said. “Your first step is to get a foothold in the league and try to get in the league, and the second one is to stay there.
“And the third one is to be an everyday guy, and then fourth is to sign repeat contracts and play for as long as you can. And then you become one of the old guys. When I was younger I saw players who had their kids in the room, and I said that I wanted to play as long as that guy. I wanted to do that, and it means you've played for a long time.”
Knuble also was a member of the 2006 U.S. Olympic Team and won four world championships with Team USA.
“It’s a year-to-year, day-to-day business in pro sports, and it can go south at any time, but I got a lot out of it and had some great experiences,” Knuble said. ”I played in a lot of great cities, met a lot of great people and played a ton of games. It was a really good run, and we had kids and they were old enough to remember stuff and experience that, too.
“I played until I was 40, and if you are going to play until you're 40, you really don't have a lot to complain about.”
Knuble had been an assistant coach with the Grand Rapids Griffins for several years, but stepped away in order to spend time with his three children. He watches his two sons play collegiate hockey while also assisting a local youth hockey program.
Cam is in his fifth year at Western Michigan University, and Cole is beginning his second season at Notre Dame. Anna is a student at Michigan State University.
“I had two kids playing college and a daughter in the middle of college, so I learned to like my flexibility,” Knuble said. “I took last year off and now help with the Fox Motors program that has 15 and 16-year-olds. I’m staying in the game, just trying to help young players find their way and make decisions whether to play juniors or high school.”
After Knuble played his final season with the Flyers in 2012-13, he had the opportunity to coach both of his sons.
“That was really important to me,” he said. “I had many opportunities to work full time, but I wanted to be around to coach my sons and do the driving and take them places. To see where they could be as players. I played long enough where I could make a decision like that and take that route.”
Knuble is enjoying ‘the college life’ as he travels around supporting his children.
“We are seeing a lot of college campuses with tailgating and hockey games, and it’s been a lot of fun,” Knuble said. “Both have great hockey environments, and both are lucky to play in different types of programs. We’ve been very fortunate to have them play and go down to see them.
“That’s why I didn’t want to get locked into something fulltime where you wish you were watching them play versus what you’re doing.”
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PHOTOS At left, East Kentwood’s Mike Knuble as a high school senior in 1990, and at right with his family. (Photos provided by Mike Knuble.)