Cranbrook Makes Championship Dream Come True
By
Tim Robinson
Special for MHSAA.com
March 27, 2021
PLYMOUTH -- Six years is a long time, by any standard.
For Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood, six years between hockey championships felt like an eternity.
The drought ended Saturday, when the Cranes ended Calumet's bid for an unbeaten season with a 4-1 victory in the Division 3 Final at USA Hockey Arena.
"We did this for ourselves and for the seniors in past years who couldn't get here," senior Alex Ceritano said. "This was for them."
Cranes coach John LaFontaine won his first title in his second season as head coach, but deferred credit to his four captains -- Ceritano, Leyton Stenman, Jack Wineman and Isaac Cheli.
"This was a group of outstanding leaders," LaFontaine said. "I'll be honest. I had to do nothing. These guys took care of everything."
The Cranes took care of Calumet, too, allowing the Copper Kings only 10 shots for the game, including just one in the third period.
'They boxed them out, a lot of times," Cranbrook goalie Julian Zyvagin said. "They blocked a lot of shots before they got to me, and they made them dump the puck."
Meanwhile, the Cranbrook offense got going in the second half of the first period.
Nathan Hooker got things started with a power-play goal with 4:44 left in the period. Wineman scored on a breakaway with exactly two minutes left in the period to give Cranbrook a 2-0 lead over the stunned Copper Kings (17-1-1), who rarely trailed in a game this season.
"We were only behind in one game this year, for about 10 minutes," Copper Kings coach Dan Giachino said. "But we kept working. That's all you can do."
Cheli essentially put the game out of reach with a goal early in the second period. Tom Erkkila scored for the Copper Kings, but Ty Esterlione tacked on an insurance goal midway through the third period to seal the victory.
It was Cranbrook's ninth Division 3 crown.
It was Calumet's first trip to the Finals since 2018. The Copper Kings were among teams affected when last year's tournament was cancelled, turning back after having completed most of the 12-hour journey from Copper Country.
That they made the trip this year was a tribute to the work ethic by a team that lost 11 seniors last season.
"We have two-thirds of a new team this year," Giachino said. "Getting here was a tribute to our 10 seniors."
The chemistry which lifted Calumet back to the Finals also was evident on a Cranbrook team that lost in the Regional Finals last season.
"Our JV players from last year came in and impressed everyone," Ceritano said, "We came together so well. There were no problems at all this season."
Wineman, along with his teammates, savored the accomplishment afterward.
"It's been my dream since my freshman year," he said. "I came here (weighing) 90 pounds and I was 5-foot (tall). I've had great company, great teammates these last four years.
"We've been building toward this the last four years. I'm so happy my dream came true."
Click for the full box score.
PHOTOS: (Top) Cranbrook Kingswood players celebrate after clinching the Division 3 title Saturday at USA Hockey Arena. (Middle) Calumet goalie Aksel Loukus works to keep the puck out of his net during a scramble. (Click for more from Hockey Weekly Action Photo.)
Country Day Caps 22-Win Streak on Top
March 10, 2018
Second Half reports
PLYMOUTH — Carter Elrod’s contributions in the final seconds of the MHSAA Division 3 championship hockey game won’t show up in the box score.
What will show up in the records from here on out is that Detroit Country Day is the 2017-18 Division 3 champion because Elrod sacrificed his body for the cause.
The senior forward blocked two shots in the final seconds, including a prime opportunity just before the buzzer, to preserve Country Day’s 2-1 victory over Livonia Churchill on Saturday at USA Hockey Arena.
It’s a dirty, often dangerous job, which Elrod does unflinchingly.
“Earlier in the season, I broke my hand blocking a shot,” Elrod said. “It’s a thing Coach stresses every day that we have to do to win games. Every time we go out there, we don’t think, we just go out there and block the shot.”
If shots get to the net, Country Day has one of the best goaltenders in the state to clean up the mess. Junior Sam Evola stopped 30 of the 31 shots he faced, but appreciated not having to face a 32nd shot when Churchill’s Conor Burnette had a glorious chance in the high slot in the final seconds.
“A lot of it is guys like him blocking shots out of nowhere,” said Evola, who had a 1.00 goals-against average and .953 save percentage during the regular season. “I think they might have scored if he hadn’t blocked that one shot; I didn’t see it.”
Churchill was trying to become the second team this weekend to force overtime after trailing 2-0. Traverse City West did it against Saginaw Heritage in the Division 1 Semifinals, only to lose, 3-2.
Seth Kucharczyk’s goal with 7:53 left in the game got the Chargers within a goal. They kept pressing with their goaltender pulled at the end, but couldn’t get a puck past Evola — or Elrod.
“This guy could definitely have more points, but he does so much,” Country Day coach Frank Novock said. “People who know hockey know how important he is out there, blocking shots, winning face-offs, penalty killing, getting pucks. In the first period, he was probably our only forward going, how hard he was working. It kind of caught on a little bit. Night in and night out, his work ethic and determination were amazing.”
After losing in the Quarterfinals the last two seasons, Country Day won its first MHSAA hockey championship since 1981 by holding six postseason opponents to a combined five goals.
It was the longest stretch between championships among past MHSAA title winners, eclipsing the 22 years between Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett’s 1990 and 2012 titles.
The Yellowjackets (28-2-1) won their last 22 games after losing 3-0 to Liggett on Dec. 16. Upset with his team’s effort that night, Novock had a no-pucks practice two days later.
“We weren’t very good,” he said. “I put 51 minutes on the clock and said, ‘You guys owe me another game, because we didn’t play one Saturday.’ That was the last game we lost all season. The guys didn’t complain; they took their medicine. It was three 17-minute periods they owed me. They just went through it like they did these last 22, so I consider that a win, also.”
The championship game nearly went two full periods without a goal, as Churchill’s Chris Sergison stopped the first 14 shots he faced to do his part in keeping the game scoreless.
Country Day got the break it needed when Mickey VanAntwerp took a pass from Jacob Thomas, split the defense at the blue line and went in on a breakaway. He scored, then crashed into the net, with 38.1 seconds left in the second period.
Tim Stebbins deflected a shot by defenseman Jacob Thomas past Sergison on the power play with 10:53 left in the game to give Country Day a 2-0 lead.
Churchill cut that in half, but couldn’t get the equalizer.
It was the first Finals appearance for the Chargers, who lost in the Quarterfinals after each of their previous six Regional championships.
“The overall experience has really been incredible,” Churchill coach Jason Reynolds said. “The atmosphere has certainly been electric. This is something we’ve been looking forward to. We had an opportunity to kind of embrace it and get our bearings about us (Friday) when we played the game. We were successful there. It was important for us not just to get here, but to get to Saturday.”
Churchill (16-12-3) was 11-11-3 during the regular season, but plays in the tough Kensington Lakes Activities Association. The KLAA had teams in all three championship games, with Brighton playing in Division 1 and Hartland in Division 2.
“I cannot deny how strong our KLAA schedule is year in and year out,” Reynolds said. “A lot of guys are focused on our .500 record, but that .500 record has also been against state-ranked teams over the course of the year. Even if we weren’t coming out guns blazing in November and December, the strength of our schedule has allowed us to build and develop and get better, so hopefully when we’re healthy by playoff time, we’re able to go on a run.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Detroit Country Day seniors Carter Elrod (left) and Tim Stebbins celebrate the team’s first MHSAA title since 1981. (Middle) Country Day junior Mickey VanAntwerp (25) slides a shot into the net Saturday.