Hartland Ices Rematch To Finish Repeat
March 9, 2019
Second Half reports
PLYMOUTH — When Adam Pietila won a national championship with his travel hockey team last April, nobody in Hartland outside of his family knew about it.
When he won an MHSAA Division 2 championship with Hartland on Saturday at USA Hockey Arena, he did so in front of a large student section and with his best friends at the school.
“This is better,” said the Hartland sophomore, who scored the Eagles’ third goal in a 4-0 shutout of Trenton. “Going to school with everybody every day is just a great time.”
It’s the experience of playing for one’s school, in front of kids that players see every day in class, that coach Rick Gadwa pitches to talented players at Hartland who are on the fence about playing high school hockey.
The scene at USA Hockey Arena, with players jumping up against the glass to celebrate with the student section, could be Exhibit A in that sales pitch.
“You want to have a place where guys can come play where they’re feeling the love, where maybe sometimes they weren’t or it’s a different look or another stop for them,” said Gadwa, who played for Hartland 16 years ago. “More important, the pride of high school hockey, the pride of playing for your school, that stuff you don’t get in AAA or AA hockey. It’s a real special thing when you can come play for your school.”
Two of the newcomers to the Eagles in their quest to repeat were the Pietila brothers, Adam and Owen. Owen, a senior, scored two goals eight seconds apart to break a scoreless deadlock late in the first period after Hartland failed to cash in on a long five-on-three power play.
Owen Pietila made up his mind to play for Hartland after watching the Eagles beat Trenton in last year’s championship game.
“It looked like fun,” he said.
The Division 2 ranks were dominated all season by four powerhouse programs: Hartland, Trenton, Livonia Stevenson and Birmingham Brother Rice.
In the end, there was no doubt which team was the best in the division. Hartland (27-4) beat Brother Rice, 6-2, in the Semifinals before outshooting the Trojans, 44-13, in a dominant performance in the title game.
“We had a good plan here to start the playoffs,” Gadwa said. “We kept building and building and building. We got to the top at the end. The buy-in and effort as strong as it was is hard to beat, no matter how good you are. We played some good teams. Brother Rice and Trenton are unbelievable programs. Hat’s off to them on another great year.”
Trenton was hoping to avenge a 4-2 loss to the Eagles in last year’s championship game. The Trojans (25-5-1) came in with confidence, having shut out Hartland, 2-0, on Feb. 1. But Hartland was in command from start to finish, getting the first 11 shots of the game and 17 of the first 18.
“The first time we played them, we had a few bounces go our way,” Trenton coach Chad Clements said. “They had a few bounces go their way tonight. They outshot us two-to-one the last time we played them. I kind of expected that, just because of how offensive they were. I was fine with being outshot. As long as we kept the shots from the outside, we were fine with that.
“It’s their night again. We beat them this year, just not when it mattered.”
Adam Pietila’s goal at 13:47 of the second period came on the rebound of a Benny Tervo shot on a breakaway. Gabe Anderson completed the scoring with 4:33 left in the game.
Brett Tome made 13 saves to backstop the Eagles to the Division 2 championship for the second straight time. He had a 12-0 career record as a playoff starter, allowing only seven goals and posting seven shutouts.
“It means a lot to me to not lose a single game in the playoffs,” Tome said.
On the other end of the rink, Joey Cormier made 40 saves to keep the Trojans in the game most of the way.
“Joey’s just a tremendous competitor, the backbone of our team,” Clements said. “Without him, it could have been much worse. He gives us a chance to win every time that he plays.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Hartland players celebrate clinching their second straight Division 2 championship at USA Hockey Arena. (Middle) The Eagles’ Owen Pietila tries to stuff a shot past Trenton goalie Joey Cormier during Saturday’s Final. (Photos by Andrew Knapik.)
Officials Eager for New Hockey Format
July 12, 2019
By Rob Kaminski
MHSAA benchmarks editor
Tuesday, Feb. 26, was a particularly busy day on the ice as the 2019 MHSAA Ice Hockey Tournament reached just its second day around the state.
On the slate that night were 27 Regional games, bringing the two-day total to 48 on the heels of Monday’s busy calendar.
As teams were busy setting their sights on the ultimate goal, so, too, was another group of accomplished skaters who toil with much less fanfare. Nonetheless, the games can’t start without them – the folks in the striped shirts who call the games.
Just as players and coaches will welcome the expanded playoff format in 2020, the officials are looking forward to the change as well.
“When we got to the first week of the tournament, it seemed like we were going every day,” said Jim Gagleard, who assigns officials for the Livonia Ice Hockey Officials Association. “There are only so many officials to go around in any sport. By allowing us as officials a day or two to catch our breath, it’s good. Good for us, and good for players more than anything.”
If it seemed like every day, well, it was. A total of 66 games were played over the first three days, and 89 over the first four. Considering each game at the Regional level has three officials, that computes to 267 officials needed during that span. On the busiest day, 81 had to take to the ice.
Given that there were a total of 302 playoff-eligible officials in 2019, filling those slots can be a logistical nightmare for assigners at times.
“Regional week will see a huge burden alleviated for officials and especially assigners. There will be so much more flexibility under the new format,” said Dan DiCristofaro, President of the Northeast Hockey Referees Association. “Last year, we were faced with so many doubleheaders at single sites, and the first games needed an early start so that the second games would not last late into the evening on school nights.
“At times, the most important factor for the assigner was scheduling those officials who could get to the arena for the early start times. Merit and ability sometimes had to take a back seat.”
Gagleard agrees, saying, “Assigning-wise, early games are the toughest to fill. Everyone has a job, and in order to work a game they have to tell the boss they’re leaving at 2:30 for a 5 o’clock game. You start to look for officials who are retired, or can get out of work, instead of the most qualified. That’s not fair to the teams playing.”
In the northern reaches of the Upper Peninsula, the problem is more acute.
Sean Jacques is the athletic director at Calumet, and also an experienced official, having skated the Division 2 Final in Plymouth in 2016.
“Not enough,” Jacques said, in reference to the number of playoff officials in the UP. “Not enough. When I get the list of eligible officials that is sent to tournament managers, I have to search and scramble to find three people within an 80-mile radius.”
Moving the Quarterfinals to the weekend will definitely help matters, and eliminating Regional doubleheaders should ease the scheduling anxiety as well.
“With Regionals spread out more, without doubleheaders, officials potentially could work more days,” Jacques said. “And there should be more availability for the Quarterfinals. The last few years, it was in the Sault, and getting four guys to the Sault on a weeknight, whether from Escanaba or northern lower Michigan, was difficult. There were times I’d turn down a Quarterfinal because I just couldn’t get there and back and make it to work the next day. Saturday makes it easier.”
On the west side of the Lower Peninsula, assigner Randy Sheahan uses a mathematical approach to illustrate his challenges, even for the regular season. Sheahan calculates that 98.88 percent of all West Michigan games are scheduled for Wednesday, Friday, or Saturday. Breaking it down further, 84.39 percent skip Wednesday and schedule only Friday or Saturday.
With the shortened regular season coming in 2019-20 to allow for a three-week tournament window, Sheahan took a proactive approach.
“When the MHSAA announced the change to a three-week tournament, I emailed all West Michigan coaches, plus a handful of athletic directors and booster leaders who may be involved in team scheduling,” Sheahan said. “I encouraged them if they are having difficulty squeezing all their games into a window which is now one week shorter, to give further consideration to playing on Mondays, Tuesdays, or Thursdays to greatly alleviate some of the stresses we place on the West Michigan officiating staff.”
As for the MHSAA Tournament, Sheahan agrees with his brethren across the state in metro Detroit that the expansion will benefit assigners, officials, and teams.
“I only see positives,” Sheahan said. “This gives me tremendous flexibility with our staff to maneuver around their professional and personal schedules to keep our best officials on the ice every round, which is an expectation teams have for playoffs. It also provides (at times) much needed rest for officials and teams, especially if they are involved in overtime affairs. This could help with the quality of overall game play.”
That’s the goal for everyone. Fresher legs for players and officials alike will provide a better experience for all involved.
“This allows for physical recovery for everyone on the ice,” said DiCristofaro. “It also allows for better time management for student-athletes, officials and coaches. Even at the Quarterfinal offerings with four officials for each game, we’d run into issues as far as which people could get to places, or wanted to travel and skate late on a work night. Saturday give us much more flexibility and should create more interest in the state tournament.”
The Quarterfinals, Semifinals and Finals have employed a four-official system in recent years, affording an extra position each game for deserving officials while adding to the quality of the game for participants at the highest level.
Sheahan plans to utilize the new format to continue to reward those among his troops who have earned their stripes for such contests.
“In theory, I may have opportunities to increase game counts for some of our perennial playoff officials, but I have no plans to do that,” Sheahan said. “We have other officials every season who are good enough to skate playoffs and have earned it, but simply couldn’t quite break the playoff bubble. Now the opportunity presents itself to reward some of those officials. It would be counterproductive to officiating development if fewer officials are getting opportunities for important games.”
Similarly, DiCristofaro is hoping the time will come when four officials will be assigned to skate Regional Finals, and perhaps the new length of the postseason will open the door.
“Some of most important games are the Regional Finals. Maybe this new schedule can help,” DiCristofaro said. “Four officials offer teams the best possible ice coverage, and they deserve that.”