NFHS Network Touts Hockey Powers
January 21, 2015
By John Gillis
Courtesy of NFHS Huddle Up
This Friday, two talented Michigan Interscholastic Hockey League (MIHL) teams will take to the ice in what promises to be a highly competitive contest that will be broadcast live on the NFHS Network and is being featured this week on the NFHS website.
Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood (11-1-1-1), ranked No. 1 in Division 3, will host Division 2 No. 3 Detroit U-D Jesuit (11-3) at Wallace Ice Arena. (Click here to watch the broadcast.)
Last season, Cranbrook Kingswood went 26-2 overall, placed first in the MIHL North Division at 12-1, and advanced to the MHSAA Quarterfinals where it fell to the eventual champion.
According to longtime Cranes coach Andy Weidenbach, his team and U-D Jesuit's Cubs likely will engage in a spirited game.
“This will be another tough battle in the MIHL – you can’t take a game off and be competitive in this league,” Weidenbach said. “U of D Jesuit and Cranbrook enjoy a friendly rivalry, and each game between them is generally highlighted by close checking, tough defense and low scoring.
“Experience has to be one of our stronger points. There are 13 seniors on the roster, including two senior goalies and four senior defensemen.
“Among our top players is 6-foot, 165-pound senior forward Austin Alger, who centers the No. 1 line, is our “go-to” player, and is committed to Miami (Ohio) University. Five-nine, 165-pound senior defenseman Cooper Stahl plays his position well, handles the puck well, and has great awareness on the ice. Both are team captains who have made significant contributions to the success of the program during their four years at Cranbrook.
“Spencer Applebaum – who is a senior goalie – has an outstanding record in MIHL play, was in net for the state championship game as a sophomore, and the team has confidence with him in the nets.
“As a high school hockey program, Cranbrook is honored that the game with U of D-Jesuit was selected to be highlighted by the NFHS Network. Our school, our students, our fans and the MIHL share in this honor.”
U-D Jesuit coach Rick Bennetts fosters great respect for Cranbrook and concurs with Weidenbach regarding the upcoming game.
“Cranbrook is always one of the best teams in the state, if not the best team in the state each year, and this year is no different,” Bennetts said “They are such a well-coached team that they rarely beat themselves. We have been able to beat them only three times in our 20-year history, so we will have to bring our ‘A Game.’
“We really don’t have top players – we have 10 forwards, seven defensemen and two goaltenders who all work to get the job done. Our leading scorers are Christian Wirth-Karbler and Teddy Apap with 13 points each, followed closely by Sam Knoblauch at 11 points. Our goalies – Jack Deines and Jake Robinson – are also top players for us. As they go, we go.
“We are truly humbled and honored to be a part of this webcast – it’s something we have never had the opportunity to do as a featured game in our 20-year history. We are the only high school in the city of Detroit to have high school hockey ,and our school has stayed in the city of Detroit for almost 140 years educating young men for the Greater Glory of God. One hundred percent of our students go on to college every year, and we currently have 10 former hockey players playing junior and/or college hockey, as well as one playing professionally.”
Huddle Up is published on the National Federation of State High School Associations website and covers everything from legends of the past to the inspiring stories of the present and the record breakers of the future. Click to read more.
PHOTO: Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood players huddle up before last week's game against Orchard Lake St. Mary's.
Clarkston Eying Postseason Possibilities with Challenging Regular-Season Schedule
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
December 20, 2023
It might not be January just yet, but the Clarkston hockey team has probably already felt like it has competed in the MHSAA Tournament for the 2023-24 season.
The Wolves have gone through a gauntlet of a nonleague schedule, with two games against last season’s Division 1 runner-up Brighton, a game against reigning Division 3 ion Flint Powers Catholic and a contest against Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central, a Division 1 semifinalist last winter.
However, there has been a method to the madness for a Clarkston team that’s normally not so ambitious with nonleague scheduling.
The Wolves saw a 20-win season end with a 6-1 Regional Final loss to Hartland in March, and the idea is that playing some of the state’s best so early will toughen Clarkston up further for when this season’s playoffs arrive.
“I think we’ve already kind of went through hard times and had moments of adversity,” Clarkston head coach Nathan Bryer said. “We’re already a team that has faced a lot more hardship than our team last year at this point. I think last year at this point, we were still undefeated and had an easier time with it.”
So far, Clarkston has done a good job navigating the tough early slate, with wins over Powers and Forest Hills Central and close defeats to Brighton (4-3 and 3-1).
It’s all in an effort to eventually do something no team in school history or any squad in the Oakland Activities Association has done – win a Division 1 Finals championship.
No OAA squad has reached the championship game in Division 1 since Clarkston did so in 2005, and only two have reached the Division 1 Semifinal round since 2011 (Lake Orion in 2011 and Rochester United in 2019).
Farmington is the only OAA school to ever win a Finals hockey title, doing so in Division 3 in 2014.
Based on who returns from last year’s team, Clarkston likely will be in the conversation and could represent the OAA’s best chance in recent years to have a team make it back to Plymouth and the season’s final weekend, and perhaps do some winning there also.
The Wolves return 15 players off a team that dominated the OAA last season, finishing 8-1-1 in league play.
Junior forward Ron Wade was a first-team all-state performer in Division 1, while defenseman Evan Adams was named second-team all-state.
Those two along with forward Owen Croston are the team’s captains this winter.
The Wolves are 7-2 going into a Thursday night contest against league rival Rochester Hills Stoney Creek.
With so much familiarity among players and coaches, not as much time needed to be spent during the offseason getting to know one another.
“The team is already pretty bonded this year,” Adams said. “We didn’t really have to worry that much about being a big group, or chemistry, this year.”
In January, the toughening-up process won’t end for Clarkston, given the Wolves will have a game against four-time reigning Division 1 champion Detroit Catholic Central.
“We haven’t had a hard (nonleague) schedule before until this year,” Croston said. “We just have to be ready for those games.”
When the MHSAA Tournament does roll around, Clarkston will have to jump over the same hurdles it usually must in its Regional – Hartland and Lake Orion.
Wade said the team still has lessons learned from the playoff loss to Hartland on its mind.
“We just learned that we really have to stick to our identity in those games,” he said. “This year, we have to rely on our forecheck and all of us pushing for the same thing.”
Indeed, it might not be 2024 yet, but Clarkston already has found out a lot about itself as it tries to replicate the postseason in November and December before the real one arrives.
“I think those teams who play a rigorous schedule all year, they are a little bit more battle-tested when Regionals come around,” Bryer said. “That was our goal this year, to have a team that’s played against top-10 opponents consistently all year. I think we’ll be better for it throughout the regular season, and better for it in Regionals.”
Keith Dunlap has served in Detroit-area sports media for more than two decades, including as a sportswriter at the Oakland Press from 2001-16 primarily covering high school sports but also college and professional teams. His bylines also have appeared in USA Today, the Washington Post, the Detroit Free Press, the Houston Chronicle and the Boston Globe. He served as the administrator for the Oakland Activities Association’s website from 2017-2020. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties
PHOTOS (Top) Clarkston warms up before a recent practice at Detroit Skate Club. (Middle) Clarkston warms up before a recent practice at Detroit Skate Club. (Photos by Keith Dunlap.)