The Mighty Mack
March 13, 2012
Mackenzie MacEachern sat between teammates Thomas Ebbing and Chris Wilberding after Saturday’s Division 2 hockey championship game, and said he was just happy to win it with his “buds.”
A decision he made nearly a year ago allowed for that opportunity.
The Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice senior is a rarity in high school hockey. As reported by the Oakland Press a few weeks ago, MacEachern was drafted into the North American Hockey League last spring – but instead of leaving for that next step up the hockey ladder as is usually done, he put it off to play one more year. Instead, he continued to play with his high school friends – and claimed the championship that eluded them the year before.
After falling in the 2011 Division 2 Final, MacEachern and Brother Rice beat Grosse Pointe South 4-1 on Saturday to claim their first MHSAA championship since 2005. He’s committed to join Michigan State’s hockey program sometime in the new two years, and will now play at the junior level for at least a season before making the college jump.
“It was unfinished business, basically. We didn’t win it last year,” MacEachern said. “I wanted to come back and try to win it with my team. And it happened.”
MacEachern gets one of this week’s Second Half High 5s after what was arguably the most impressive season of any player in Michigan this winter.
The 6-foot-3, 180-pound forward finished with 42 goals and 48 assists despite playing in the Michigan Interscholastic Hockey League, which features most of the best teams from the Detroit area including half of the eight semifinalists in Divisions 1 and 2 at Compuware Arena.
His final-week stat sheet was a snapshot of his season as a whole.
MacEachern followed a five-assist performance in the Quarterfinal with four goals and an assist in a 5-0 Semifinal win over Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern/Eastern. He added one final goal in the 3-1 win over Grosse Pointe South.
“(He) gives us the opportunity to let other guys step up and be that guy,” Brother Rice coach Lou Schmidt, Jr., said. “Mack has scored a lot of points for us. Thomas Ebbing, he’s also one of the guys; he’s a junior. We’ve got Russell Cicerone, Ross Haffey; these guys are going to be seniors next year. They’ve got a lot of points to fill, but I’ve got complete confidence that they’ll fill it.”
MacEachern and the Warriors finished 25-4-1 this season.
“We’ve grown up together. Our chemistry is just unbeatable,” Ebbing said. “I just give him the puck, and I know he’s got the greatest shot. You can tell by his goals. He’s a great player to play with.”
Team of the Month: Byron Center Hockey
January 13, 2023
Byron Center ice hockey has done nothing but trend upward since its start as a program in 2016-17, with Regional titles the last four seasons, two trips to the Semifinals and a Division 2 runner-up finish in 2021.
There aren’t many rungs left to climb – but if the start of this season is an indication, the Bulldogs may be nearing that final step as this winter rolls past its midpoint
Byron Center is 14-0 heading into this weekend’s trip to Traverse City for the Rick Deneweth Memorial North-South Showcase, where the Bulldogs will face Marquette tonight and Lake Orion on Saturday. Byron Center also is ranked No. 1 in Division 2 in part on the strength of a December that saw the team win eight games while giving up a combined 10 goals – earning the Bulldogs the honor as MHSAA/Applebee’s “Team of the Month.”
They’ve played one game since the end of holiday break, shutting out Rockford last weekend after heading into the two-week layoff by also shutting out the Rams. Byron Center total has five shutouts total this winter and allowed only one goal in four others games, backstopped by senior goaltenders Carson MacKenzie (1.30 goals-against average) and Devon Lay (1.07).
It’s also not just how the Bulldogs have won, but who they’ve defeated. They started December with a shutout of Midland Dow – which admittedly is having a rough go this season, but remains the reigning Division 3 champion. Byron Center followed with a 4-1 win over current Division 3 No. 2 Flint Powers Catholic, and also picked up wins during December over Division 1 No. 6 Muskegon Mona Shores (6-3) and Division 3 No. 8 Grand Rapids Catholic Central (4-2). Those were in addition to handing Division 3 No. 10 Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern/Eastern its first loss, 3-1, on Nov. 25.
The Byron Center team is a cooperative that includes players from Wayland and Grand Rapids South Christian. The Bulldogs are a combined 123-46-4 under coach Jordan Steger since that start in 2016-17, and a 2019-20 Division 1 tournament run was stopped in the Semifinals when the season was abruptly ended due to COVID-19.
MacKenzie made the all-state second team last season and is one of four all-state honorees back from a year ago; senior forward Brady Breit, junior forward Jackson Froysland and senior defenseman Josh Philo also made the all-state second team at their positions.
Breit and senior forward Logan Nickolaus lead with 12 goals and Nickolaus has a team-high 28 points, with Breit at 23 points and Froysland at 10 goals and 22 points total. Junior forward Cade Pratt has eight goals and 17 assists for a team second-best 25 points.
Past Teams of the Month, 2022-23
November: Martin football - Report
October: Gladwin volleyball - Report
September: Negaunee girls tennis - Report