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Cranbrook Kingswood Caps Comeback
March 14, 2015
By Bill Khan
Special to Second Half
PLYMOUTH — No one is immune from the disappointments of playoff hockey, not even those who play for a perennial powerhouse like Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood.
Three years ago, Cooper Stahl and Austin Alger were freshmen on a Cranes team that outshot Marysville 55-19, only to lose a 2-1 overtime shocker in the Regional Finals.
Last season, they were juniors on a Cranbrook Kingswood squad that fell 3-2 in the MHSAA Division 3 Quarterfinals to an upstart Farmington squad, which was outshot 62-15, but used that upset as a springboard to an unlikely championship.
The common theme for the 2013 and 2015 Cranbrook Kingswood teams is how they responded to adversity, bouncing back from rare early exits in the postseason to add to the school's record total of MHSAA championships.
The count is now at 17 after the Cranes' dominating performance in a 4-0 victory over Houghton in the Division 3 Final on Saturday at Compuware Arena. Trenton ranks No. 2 on the list with 14 championships.
"They're the top team in Division 3, and have been," Houghton coach Corey Markham said. "They're the measuring stick. ... They're as good as anyone in the state. They're not just a good Division 3 team, they're as good as anyone in the state, and they've proven that."
Cranbrook Kingswood has a 17-2 record in MHSAA Finals, winning in its last nine appearances, but — despite impressions to the contrary — the Cranes don't always make it to the final day of the tournament.
"It really helps motivate us," Stahl said of the two playoff losses during his four-year career. "We've seen both spectrums, the highs and lows. Throughout my four years here, every day in practice and off ice, everything we do, we had both of those feelings in our mind. We wanted the good one we experienced today."
Like his brother Alex two years earlier, forward Austin Alger spent his senior year working to go out on top after a crushing end to his junior year.
"After getting knocked out against Farmington last year, the guys were on a mission this year," Alger said. "It was easy with the seniors. There were 13 leaders on the team."
The Cranes outshot Houghton 50-13, but they know that shots alone don't win hockey games when the opposing goalie morphs into a brick wall.
Cranbrook Kingswood (25-2-4) didn't allow Houghton senior Marcus Gloss to establish control of the game, peppering him early and coming away with a 3-0 lead after one period.
Mason Schultz buried a backhanded rebound just 42 seconds into the game to open the scoring. By the middle of the first period, the Cranes had a three-goal cushion, with Cole Adaskaveg knocking home a rebound at 6:38 and Blake Rogow scoring from the blue line at 8:09.
"Getting one early just really calms the nerves for someone who hasn't played at Compuware before, like a freshman who doesn't have that much playoff experience," Stahl said. "It helps settle everyone down to get one goal early and play the rest of the game the way we usually do."
It was a shocking start for Houghton, which allowed only four goals in its five postseason games, and never more than one.
"They jumped on us quick," Gloss said. "I'm not quite sure I was as ready as I should have been. I didn't expect such a quick start. It's tough when they're on you so fast."
Houghton's big chance to get back into the game came at 15:12 of the first period when C.J. Regula of the Cranes received a five-minute major for boarding. The game was a stalemate during that extended power play, with both teams getting one shot on goal.
The Gremlins (24-5-2) wouldn't get another power play until the game was virtually out of reach at 4-0 midway through the third period.
"That was demoralizing, it really was," Markham said. "You think being down three that this is our chance, you get one, maybe two in those five minutes. When we didn't score in those five minutes, it was a little blow. We never just quite got that spark. We didn't have that spark to give us a little pep, a little jump in our step."
After allowing three goals on the first 12 shots, Gloss stopped the next 25 he faced to give Houghton a glimmer of hope for a comeback.
The Gremlins' best scoring chance of the game came early in the third period, when Reid Pietila pounced on a loose puck on a rush and nearly slipped it through the pads of goalie Spencer Applebaum, who looked behind him to see if the puck was in the net.
It was the toughest save in a 13-save shutout for Applebaum, who was also the goaltender when Cranbrook Kingswood beat Sault Ste. Marie to win the 2013 title.
"It was a two-on-two," Applebaum said. "The first guy kind of threw it toward the net. It got deflected in front. The second guy, I saw him out of the corner of my eye. I slid over and he shot it five-hole. I didn't know if I had it, but it was stuck under my pad, probably less than a foot away from the goal line, so I barely got there."
"I tried to slide it under him, but he made a good save," Pietila said. "I try not to be too hard on myself, but it's kind of hard in this situation."
Not long after Applebaum's save, the Cranes essentially put the game away on a power-play goal by Regula with 13:05 left in the game.
"We got a couple of good bounces in today's game," Cranes coach Andy Weidenbach said. "The goalie gave up a couple rebounds and the bounces ended up on our stick. Sometimes they go your way, sometimes they don't. Today the bounces seemed to go our way, and we were able to capitalize on at least three rebounds."
Houghton is 1-4 in MHSAA Finals, its victory coming in 1982 against Flint Powers Catholic. The Cranes are 3-0 in the postseason against the Gremlins, winning 6-5 in the 1979 Class B Final and 3-2 in double overtime in the 1997 Class B Semifinals.
PHOTOS: (Top) Cranbrook Kingswood players celebrate during Saturday's Division 3 Final win. (Middle) The Cranes' Sean O'Leary works to move the puck ahead. (Photos by Andrew Knapik/Southgate.)
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Veteran Coach, Huskies Eye Comeback
By
Pam Shebest
Special for MHSAA.com
December 21, 2015
PORTAGE — Although his hockey team skidded to the worst start during his 30-year coaching career, JD Kalleward and his Portage Northern Huskies still have that positive vibe going.
“We don’t want to keep losing,” senior co-captain Jack Budnick said last week after the team opened 0-7. “We want to turn it around as soon as we can.
“We’ve had a lot of close games where it’s just come down to a couple mistakes, and we’re working on them in practice.”
Portage Northern closed the 2015 portion of this season's schedule with its first win, 4-2 over Manistee on Friday, to move to 1-8 heading into the new year. And Kalleward is one reason the players are staying positive and focused, said senior co-captain Austin Killman.
“He’s been very vehement about hockey,” Killman said. “If he sees anybody slacking in practice, he’ll get them going.
“He’s been around the game for so long that he knows a lot about hockey and what systems will work in different situations. I have a lot of faith in his style.”
Kalleward said he honed his coaching style while working as an assistant to Art Missias, who passed away from cancer in 2010.
A netminder, Kalleward graduated from Northern in 1980. During his high school years, he helped coach goalies for his uncle, John Kalleward, Sr., and Missias with their squirt and peewee house teams.
It didn’t take long for JD to catch the coaching bug.
When Missias took over the head coaching job at Portage Northern 30 years ago, he tapped JD Kalleward to be his assistant. Thirteen years ago when Missias retired, Kalleward took his mentor’s place.
One of the lessons learned from Missias is helping Kalleward deal with his team’s record so far this year: “You may have a down game, but it’s just one game.
“You’ve got to move on, learn from your mistakes and take the positives from it. Try and hope in the next game you do better.”
After losing nine seniors to graduation from a team that went 18-9-0 overall, 8-2 in the Southwest Michigan High School Hockey League last season, Kalleward knew this would be a rebuilding season. But he didn’t expect such a challenging start, including 0-2 in the league.
“Six of our (first) seven games have been on the road against very good programs including Traverse City, Forest Hills, East Kentwood, so we’ve had some pretty stiff competition,” Kalleward said.
Besides Budnick and Killman, the Huskies have just two other seniors: forward Scott Verduzco and goalie Tim Fitzgerald.
Scoring other successes
Although the Huskies have struggled early on the ice, Kalleward is most proud of their academic performance.
In his 13 years as head coach, his team has earned academic all-state every season.
“The last two years we were the top academic team out of 160 hockey teams in Michigan,” he said. “Two years ago, our team’s (grade-point average) was 3.94. Last year, it was 3.96
‘We have a number of kids who are academically gifted. Of the nine who graduated last year, we had just one beneath a 3.0; the other eight were above 3.5.”
Last season, Joe Mancina, with a 4.65 GPA, became the Huskies’ third top state scholar athlete in the last six years, as measured by grade-point average.
One main reason Kalleward stresses academics is, “quite frankly, there aren’t too many who are going to sign NHL contracts,” he said. “We know that life after high school means doing well.
“Every Thursday we meet with the players after practice to talk about where they are at school, their grades. We offer tutoring with those who are struggling.”
Over the last 30 years, Kalleward has seen several changes to both the game and the players.
“Relative to talent, you used to have a lot more kids going the route of playing high school,” he said. “Now they have so many options for players depending on what they want to do with their hockey careers.”
He also said players don’t seem as independent as they were in past years.
“What we find is sometimes it’s hard for kids to make their own decisions or make good decisions on their own,” he said. “As a coach, besides the X’s and O’s, we try to help them with that.”
As an assistant coach, Kalleward took note of what worked especially well and wrote a manual of expectations for coaches, parents and players that he distributes every season.
“We have an agreement signed by both parents and players saying they’ve read and understood the 16 points of emphasis, everything in the agreement: ice time, player behavior on the ice, behavior off the ice, academics, and so on,” he said.
Among team requirements are wearing khakis, a shirt and tie when going to games, “The same apparel they’d wear for a job interview,” he said.
“We eat together quite a bit and have rules on behavior. There’s probably a good three pages of rules.”
Turnaround time
Killman said it’s up to the captains to help turn the team around.
“You have to get your guys motivated for games, and if they’re getting down on themselves, try to get them back up,” he said. “If they’re coming to practice slacking, you’ve got to push them.
“(Being captain) gives me more responsibility and I love responsibility.”
Budnick said Killman is one spark on the team.
“Out on the ice before we go to opening faceoff, we gather around the net and we talk about the key aspects that we want to work on in the game,” Budnick said. “Austin is always taking the responsibility and says exactly what we need to do.
“Austin is definitely the hardest worker on the team, and that’s a great leadership quality from my perspective. It pushes everybody else.”
Kalleward’s three assistants include two Portage Northern alums. Steve Stanley, who works with the forwards, graduated in 1983, and Ken Rogers, who works with the defense, in 1975.
Tom Askey, who played pro hockey, including with the NHL Anaheim Mighty Ducks in 1997-98 and the then-United Hockey League Kalamazoo Wings in 2006-07, works with the goalies.
In 1975, the Huskies made it to the Tier II MHSAA Final before losing to Lansing Catholic Central. They made at least the Semifinals four times under Missias.
In spite of this year’s start, the future looks promising for the Huskies with four juniors, 10 sophomores and two freshmen mixing with the senior leaders.
Juniors are forwards Spencer Brown, Andrew Fitzgerald, Jesse Liebert and defenseman Calvin Voss.
Sophomores are forwards Grant Ernst, Mason Seiferlein, Tyler Simon; blueliners Griffin McLoed, Roarke Ross, Leon Fieber, Dakota Meadmore; two-way players Will Todd, Caleb Martin and goalie Zach Bossch.
The freshmen are forwards Zonjic Singleton-Julian and Connor Sorge.
Northern picks back up this season’s schedule Jan. 2 against Okemos.
Pam Shebest served as a sportswriter at the Kalamazoo Gazette from 1985-2009 after 11 years part-time with the Gazette while teaching French and English at White Pigeon High School. She continues to freelance for MLive.com covering mainly Kalamazoo Wings hockey and can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Calhoun, Kalamazoo and Van Buren counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Coach JD Kalleward has spent 30 seasons behind the Portage Northern bench. (Middle) Joe Mancina, center, was last season's top state academic athlete with a 4.65 GPA. He is joined by, from left, all-state team selection Mitchell Kalleward, former NHL player Mike Knuble, Northern all-stater Matty Seiferlien and Coach JD Kalleward. (Below) The Huskies' locker room door. (Head shots) From left: JD Kalleward, Jack Budnick and Austin Killman. (Top two photos courtesy of JD Kalleward; bottom photo and head shots by Pam Shebest.)