D1 Preview: Title Hopefuls Begin Chase
March 7, 2019
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Two of this weekend’s Division 1 hockey semifinalists will be playing in this late round for the first time. Three of four teams left in the bracket are seeking their first MHSAA Finals championship on the ice.
And then there’s Detroit Catholic Central, top-ranked and with 13 past titles, and the favorite Rochester United, Saginaw Heritage and Traverse City Bay Reps must catch to make more history this winter.
This weekend’s pairings are as follows:
Division 1 – Friday
Detroit Catholic Central (27-1-1) vs. Rochester United (26-3), 5 p.m.
Saginaw Heritage (27-2) vs. Traverse City Bay Reps (24-5), 7:30 p.m.
FINALS – Saturday
Division 1 - 6 p.m.
All Semifinals and Finals will be viewable live per subscription basis on MHSAA.tv, with live audio available on MHSAANetwork.com.
Click for a full schedule of this weekend's games plus full results as they come in. Player statistics below are through the Regional round.
DETROIT CATHOLIC CENTRAL
Record/rank: 27-1-1, No. 1
Championship history: 13 MHSAA titles (most recent 2016), five runner-up finishes.
Coach: Brandon Kaleniecki, fourth season (101-18-2)
League finish: First in Michigan Interscholastic Hockey League North.
Best wins: 1-0 over No. 6 Salem in Quarterfinal, 6-0 over No. 13 Birmingham United in Regional Final, 6-0 and 5-1 over No. 3 Orchard Lake St. Mary’s, 4-1 over No. 4 Brighton, 1-0 over Division 2 No. 3 Livonia Stevenson, 1-0 over Division 2 No. 2 Trenton, 6-1 and 5-4 over Division 2 No. 4 Birmingham Brother Rice.
Players to watch: Joe Borthwick, sr. D (7 goals, 23 assists); Brendan Miles, jr. D (6 goals, 22 assists); Rylan Clemons, sr. F (25 goals, 28 assists); Kyle Gaffney, jr. F (20 goals, 22 assists).
Outlook: After three straight titles from 2014-16, DCC has finished runner-up and then as a semifinalist the last two, respectively. The Shamrocks are primed to take back the title – the lone loss and tie both were to out-of-state schools, the defeat in the team’s third game of the season. DCC has three straight shutouts and seven over its last eight games – and 13 total this winter. Senior goalie Zach Allan – a first-team all-stater last season – has three of those shutouts and a 1.44 goals-against average in 16 games, while senior Stephen Sleva has four shutouts and a 0.82 GAA over 12 contests. Borthwick was an all-state first-team defenseman working in front of Allan last season, and Miles earned an honorable mention. Five more players had scored at least 10 goals entering the week, with junior Dylan Dooley (13 goals/20 assists) also over 30 points and senior Carter Korpi (14 goals/14 assists) among a few on the verge.
ROCHESTER UNITED
Record/rank: 26-3, No. 5
Championship history: Has never appeared in an MHSAA championship game.
Coach: Bryan Kowalski, second season (37-12-5)
League finish: First in Oakland Activities Association Red.
Best wins: 4-3 over No. 3 Orchard Lake St. Mary’s in Quarterfinal, 3-2 over No. 9 Macomb Dakota in Regional Final, 3-0 over No. 12 Utica Eisenhower in Regional Quarterfinal, 2-1 over No. 7 Byron Center, 4-2 over No. 8 Farmington United, 4-1 over No. 13 Birmingham United.
Players to watch: Austin Streng, sr. F (30 goals, 23 assists); Marcello Munaco, sr. F (14 goals/22 assists); Michael Zyrek, sr. F (17 goals, 25 assists); Domenico Munaco, sr. G (1.44 goals-against average, 3 shutouts).
Outlook: Rochester will be playing at the Semifinals for the first time after navigating one of the toughest postseason paths in the state – with the Dakota win avenging one of its few losses this winter. Rochester has more than doubled its win total from last season, when the team finished 12-9-5. Juniors Jack Myers (11 goals/14 assists) and Caden Ebinger (10 goals/14 assists) are two more potent scorers, while senior defensemen Niko Mantzios and Kyle Crutchfield both had 19 assists entering the week and had combined for 14 goals. The co-operative program includes athletes from Rochester High and Rochester Adams.
SAGINAW HERITAGE
Record/rank: 27-2, No. 2
Championship history: Division 1 runner-up 2018.
Coach: J.J. Bamberger, 11th season (203-86-10)
League finish: First in Saginaw Valley League.
Best wins: 5-2 over No. 14 Capital City in Quarterfinal, 3-2 over No. 3 Orchard Lake St. Mary’s, 6-1 over No. 11 Traverse City Bay Reps, 5-1 over No. 6 Salem, 7-1 over No. 4 Brighton, 6-2 over Division 2 No. 7 Davison.
Players to watch: Parker Severson, sr. F (28 goals, 25 assists); Brady Rappuhn, jr. F (24 goals, 38 assists); David Helpap, sr. F (15 goals, 30 assists); Jacob Best, sr. F (17 goals, 30 assists).
Outlook: The Hawks are now 49-7-3 over the last two seasons, with a number of standouts from last year’s first-time finalist team leading the way again. Helpap made the all-state first team a year ago, while Severson and Rappuhn earned honorable mentions and senior Jack Jesko (1.83 goals-against average) earned an honorable mention in goal. Senior Eddie Symons (19 goals/18 assists) is another veteran top scorer, and junior Matt Cole had 28 assists entering the week to go with eight goals. The only losses were to Division 2 semifinalists Hartland and Birmingham Brother Rice.
TRAVERSE CITY BAY REPS
Record/rank: 24-5, No. 11
Championship history: Has never appeared in an MHSAA Final.
Coach: Michael Matteucci, first season (24-5)
League finish: First in Northern Michigan Hockey League.
Best wins: 4-3 (OT) over No. 7 Byron Center in Quarterfinal, 2-1 over No. 10 Rockford in Regional Final, 5-4 over Traverse City West, 5-3 over Big Rapids, 3-2 and 5-4 over Petoskey.
Players to watch: Jake Stevenson, sr. F (30 goals, 24 assists); Christopher Deneweth, sr. D (12 goals, 23 assists); Kaleb Miller, soph. F (20 goals, 22 assists); Logan Kerry, sr. F (14 goals, 27 assists).
Outlook: Bay Reps – a cooperative of Traverse City St. Francis, Elk Rapids, Bear Lake, Kalkaska and Kingsley – will play in the Semifinals for the first time, and is riding a 10-game winning streak. Stevenson earned an all-state honorable mention last season and is one of nine seniors – five others make up two of the top defense pairs plus goalie Kamerin Lannen. Matteucci previously served as an assistant – and played in the NHL and multiple minor leagues – before taking over the program this winter.
PHOTO: Detroit Catholic Central’s Dylan Dooley works to clear the puck against Orchard Lake St. Mary’s this season.
Flint's Phillips Named NHL 'Community Hero'
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
June 20, 2019
Rico Phillips had convinced himself before Wednesday night’s NHL Awards that he wasn’t going to win the Willie O’Ree Community Hero Award.
It was the easiest way to kill nerves that went along with having to speak in front of a room filled with NHL superstars and legends, as well as a national television audience.
But as the award was about to be announced, and a video montage started playing on the screen, the realization he could win started to come back to Phillips. Then O’Ree said his name.
“When I watched Willie O’Ree say my name, it was like this snapshot of time froze, and I was like, ‘No way,’” said Phillips, an MHSAA hockey official and the founder of the Flint Inner City Youth Hockey Program. “I embraced my wife. She has been the person that has been the best advisor to me, and to have her here with me was an incredible moment.”
Phillips was honored for founding and directing his organization, which has given a cost-free opportunity to play the game to about 150 kids ages 8-11 in Flint since 2010. He was one of three finalists, along with Tammi Lyncy of Washington, D.C., and Anthony Benavides of Detroit.
Fans submitted candidates for the award, and the field was whittled to the final three who were then voted on by the public.
The award is named after Hockey Hall of Famer O’Ree, who broke the NHL color barrier in 1958, and who has worked as the league’s diversity ambassador for more than 20 years. It is given to “an individual who – throughout the game of hockey – has positively impacted his or her community, culture or society,” according to a release from the NHL. This was the second year it has been awarded.
“It was surreal, would be the first word,” Phillips said. “I felt an incredible honor – having just met Willie a couple months ago in person, he brings with him this magic. To look over and hear him say my name, it was like, ‘I can’t believe this is happening. Willie O’Ree – Willie O’Ree! – is giving me this award.”
Those who know Phillips could certainly believe it was happening, and that it was a well-deserved honor.
“I wasn’t surprised; I thought if anybody deserved that award, it was Rico,” said Steve Berriman, who serves as assigner and referee-in-chief for the Flint Ice Hockey Referees Association. “I was so darn proud; it was so well deserved. He’s immersed himself in the hockey culture. Whatever he’s accomplished has been all on Rico. He’s done it all himself. From where he’s started to where he’s come, and then the starting of this program, it’s 100 percent on him.”
Phillips, who is a firefighter in Flint, was introduced to the game during the 1980s and fell in love with it. He served as a student trainer for the hockey team at Flint Southwestern, and thanks to plenty of time spent with the officials while in that position, was convinced to get onto the ice wearing the stripes. He became an MHSAA registered official for ice hockey beginning with the 1990-91 season.
“I took up that challenge, and it was terrible at first, because I could barely skate,” Phillips said with a laugh. “One of the other challenges, besides learning how to skate, is that I was met with racial slurs and taunts. I was young, and it was tough. I thought, ‘What did I get myself into?’ I had some people who helped talk me through it.”
Phillips said those mentors explained to him that quitting would give those who taunted him what they wanted, and more than 30 years later, he’s still on the ice. He said he officiates about 40 high school games per year and has worked three MHSAA Semifinals and a handful of Quarterfinals.
It was during the late 1990s that the idea for the Flint Inner City Youth Hockey Program came to Phillips.
“As a hockey referee, in particular, it wasn’t just playing, I know the lack of cultural diversity (in hockey),” Phillips said. “It didn’t bother me, so to speak. But I thought, you know what, there’s something that can be done about this.”
About a decade later, he put the wheels in motion and went to the Flint-based Perani Hockey World to ask for financial assistance. Perani took things a step further, offering to outfit all of the players from head to toe, giving Phillips and his organization 54 sets of gear in total in the first year.
After that first year, a funder fell through. But four years later, the United Way stepped in and provided funding to pay for ice time. The Flint Firebirds of the Ontario Hockey League have since stepped in to assist with ice time.
“One of the things I appreciate about our program is that it’s a community collaborative effort,” Phillips said. “These folks give to us without a non-profit status.”
Since its inception, Phillips said that the program has served about 150 players. Each player not only receives gear and instruction at no cost, but also transportation to and from the arena.
“We have 12 that went on to continue playing hockey, which is huge,” Phillips said. “I’m very proud of that – I didn’t expect that. We help and seek out additional funding for our participants that come through to help with the cost as they move on. The kids that come to our program, they don’t understand or know about hockey or even ice skating. We’re taking these families and teaching them to love this sport.”
Phillips has been saddened by the decline of the sport in the Flint area, saying that when he began officiating there were more than 20 high school teams in the area, and now there are fewer than 10. He said he also struggles to fill his program each year.
He hopes that will change with the exposure that has come with this award.
“What I’m hoping is this opens up the doors a little more, that this brings some gravity,” Phillips said. “On the flip side, when talking about funding, (since he was announced as a finalist for the award) I’ve had owners of pro teams and others coming up to me saying, ‘We’re going to send you equipment and send you some funding.’ This definitely puts our program on the map – on the bigger map. It means a lot of more intense work that I have to do.”
The award also shined a positive light on Flint, which is something Phillips did not take for granted.
“It was an overwhelming response that I received from the community,” Phillips said. “There were watch parties – I just saw a video a little while ago of when the announcement was made, and they just went crazy. It means the world. I say this a lot of times, but there seems to be a dark cloud that likes to hang over Flint and has for decades. There are so many of us that are little lights that shine, and this was a big shining light. Every opportunity we get in Flint to pick our heads up and be proud is important.”
Click for more on the Willie O'Ree Community Hero Award.
PHOTOS: (Top) From right, Rico Phillips, wife Sandy and NHL Hall of Famer Willie O'Ree. (Middle) Phillips drops the puck for a face-off during the Division 3 Semifinal between Houghton and Riverview Gabriel Richard this winter. (Below) Phillips, left, with his award and the Nashville Predators' P.K. Subban. (Top and below photos courtesy of Rico Phillips.)