Performance: Calumet's Rory Anderson
January 13, 2017
Rory Anderson
Calumet senior – Hockey
Calumet may be Michigan’s northernmost high school, but its hockey program is known well from Lake Superior to the Ohio and Indiana borders – and earned plenty of respect again by downing Division 2 No. 5 Novi 5-1 last Friday and Division 1’s formerly top-ranked Brighton 4-1 on Saturday. Copper Kings captain Anderson led the way with a goal in both games plus a combined three assists and some valuable checking to earn the Michigan National Guard “Performance of the Week.”
Anderson is a returning all-stater and his team’s leading scorer for the second straight season, this winter with nine goals and 13 assists and a +5 rating (his team has scored five more goals than it’s given up with him on the ice) over 12 games. He had 49 points as a junior and 27 as a sophomore and for his career has 40 goals and 58 assists over 63 games. Neither Brighton nor Novi’s top lines scored during his time on the ice over the weekend, and as a result of those wins the Copper Kings moved up from No. 10 in Division 3 to No. 7 and improved to 6-5-1 after starting this season 0-4.
A three-sport athlete, Anderson will play shortstop, catcher and do some pitching this spring for the baseball team, and also made the media-selected all-Upper Peninsula Dream Team in football this fall helping Calumet set a school record for wins in finishing 10-2. He ran for 741 yards and 16 touchdowns and also averaged 34.3 yards per kick return with two more scores. He’s undecided what he’ll do after high school but would be interested in continuing his athletic career; first though, Anderson is focused on carrying the hockey team deep into the postseason after his Copper Kings fell in the postseason's first round last winter to Houghton and then watched neighbor Hancock emerge from their Regional to win its first MHSAA championship since 1999.
Coach Dan Giachino said: “Rory is important to our team for many reasons. Not only has he been our leading scorer for the past two seasons, but he has been one of our best defensive forwards. Rory's line is consistently matched up against the opposing team's top line, and he continually does an excellent job keeping the opposing top line off the scoresheet. Rory's work ethic is always apparent at practice, and he has learned over the past two years that he has the ability to push his linemates with his hard work. … Off the ice, Rory is 3.0 student and has a great presence in the locker room. As a junior, he was named assistant captain, and this year, he was a natural fit to be our captain. Our coaching staff is always pushing kids to be 'quietly confident' in their abilities, and Rory has been a player that brings that to the locker room each day.”
Performance Point: “It was all around a good weekend,” Anderson said. “Everyone was playing hard … it wasn’t just me doing everything, but my players around me, my teammates helping me out and me helping them out. (The highlight) I think was making the play for the go-ahead goal against Brighton, to make us go ahead 2-1, passing it over to Scotty Loukus. I got the puck in the defensive zone, and I thought to myself that I needed to get it out. I chipped it to Scotty, he gave it back to me, and I saw the open ice. I was patiently waiting on the side boards, and then I gave it back to him.”
Handing off success: “There’s quite a few guys who also played football, and after the season we had there on the football team we carried a lot of momentum going into hockey season. It's just the things we do in football, the leadership and everything, that carries over and that’s what we want. To be honest, some of us players didn’t really (expect the football success) at the beginning of the season, but once we started going, we got a good idea we could go far, and that’s what we did. I think we could have a really good (hockey) run, for my last year. We have a good team.”
Captain Anderson: “It’s a big role to fill. With all the guys there, all the seniors there, and a new (captain) that’s picked, it’s tough. But it’s fun too. I keep all the guys together, just being vocal on the benches and in the locker room and during practice. (It’s) just talking, helping the kids who it might be their first year there.”
Bigger, faster, smarter: “During the offseason, I put in a lot of work lifting, and I think I’ve gotten a lot faster and smarter. Just watching other people, watching what they do at higher levels, and carrying that to my level, I think it’s made me smarter – what to do without the puck, moving around to get open so other people can get me the puck, and then when I have the puck where to skate and what to do with it. I really like watching (the Washington Capitals’) T.J. Oshie. The things he does, he’s a big hitter, he can play the body and he also does a lot of stuff with the puck.”
If Hancock can do it: “After watching them go on their state run, we just kinda figured if they can do it, we can do it. Watching them go to the Finals, it’s a local team and you’re always paying attention to what other teams around the area are doing. I know just about every single one of them, and I think most people wanted to see them go far.
- Geoff Kimmerly, Second Half editor
Every week during the 2016-17 school year, Second Half and the Michigan National Guard will recognize a “Performance of the Week" from among the MHSAA's 750 member high schools.
The Michigan Army National Guard provides trained and ready forces in support of the National Military Strategy, and responds as needed to state, local, and regional emergencies to ensure peace, order, and public safety. The Guard adds value to our communities through continuous interaction. National Guard soldiers are part of the local community. Guardsmen typically train one weekend per month and two weeks in the summer. This training maintains readiness when needed, be it either to defend our nation's freedom or protect lives and property of Michigan citizens during a local natural disaster.
Previous 2016-17 honorees:
Dec. 15: Demetri Martin, Big Rapids basketball – Read
Dec. 1: Rodney Hall, Detroit Cass Tech football – Read
Nov. 24: Ally Cummings, Novi volleyball – Read
Nov. 17: Chloe Idoni, Fenton volleyball – Read
Nov. 10: Adelyn Ackley, Hart cross country – Read
Nov. 3: Casey Kirkbride, Mattawan soccer – Read
Oct. 27: Colton Yesney, Negaunee cross country – Read
Oct. 20: Varun Shanker, Midland Dow tennis – Read
Oct. 13: Anne Forsyth, Ann Arbor Pioneer cross country – Read
Oct. 6: Shuaib Aljabaly, Coldwater cross country – Read
Sept. 29: Taylor Seaman, Brighton swimming & diving – Read
Sept. 22: Maggie Farrell, Battle Creek Lakeview cross country – Read
Sept. 15: Franki Strefling, Buchanan volleyball – Read
Sept. 8: Noah Jacobs, Corunna cross country – Read
PHOTOS: (Top) Calumet's Rory Anderson prepares to receive the puck during a game last season. (Middle) Anderson looks for an opening after taking a hand-off during football season this fall. (Photos courtesy of the Calumet athletic department.)
Resurgent GP South Off to Stunning Start
By
Tom Markowski
Special for Second Half
January 23, 2020
It’s been eight years since Grosse Pointe South played for an MHSAA Finals championship in ice hockey.
But even though we’re just past the halfway point of this season, the Blue Devils have shown they have what it takes to make a trip back to Plymouth for another title shot.
South is 13-2 and ranked No. 2 in Division 3 in the latest state coaches association poll. To say things have been clicking would be an understatement. Not only have the Blue Devils surprised most in the Metro Detroit area, they’re the surprise team, statewide, in their division.
Take one game recently as a prime example. Detroit Catholic Central is the reigning Division 1 champion and currently ranked No. 1. On Jan. 8, South traveled to Catholic Central’s home arena (USA Hockey Arena, also the home of the MHSAA Finals) and defeated the Shamrocks 4-3.
The result stunned many. Catholic Central entered the game having won its last six by shutout. Less than four minutes into the game South’s David Rivard scored off a pass from Keegan Spitz to end that scoreless streak.
In addition to this incredible win, the Blue Devils received an immeasurable amount of self-confidence.
One contributor who’s playing with supreme confidence is senior goaltender Will Strickler. A two-year starter, he also played as a sophomore – and in fact his first game was against Catholic Central.
“We got shelled, 9-0,” Strickler said. “In the last three years only two teams from Michigan have beaten CC – (Bloomfield Hills) Brother Rice and us. That (victory) made a statement. We’re for real. We also stopped their shutout streak, which was nice.”
Before the start of this season, there likely were few who thought this was possible. Last season South finished 7-18-2, losing to Warren De La Salle Collegiate 3-1 in a Division 3 Pre-Regional. The season before, South finished 9-16 and ended with a loss to Brother Rice 3-1 in a Division 2 Regional Final.
Even though the Blue Devils returned most of their starters this winter, there were concerns. The most obvious question was how this experienced team would play with a new coach.
Paul Moretz took over the program after last season, and this is his 22nd coaching hockey. A graduate of Port Huron High, Moretz started coaching when he was 21, almost immediately after graduating from Western Michigan University. He began with youth hockey in Port Huron before moving on to the Honey Baked Hockey Club and Littles Caesars Amateur Hockey League. He spent the last 10 seasons with Little Caesars, and though this is his first stint coaching high school hockey, he said the timing was right.
“The AAA team I coached was with me all the way up,” Moretz said. “We knew last year would be our last together, so that was going to be it.
“I applied for the South job and, to be honest, I had no clue (how good this team would be). I knew there was potential. I knew it was a good group of young men. I knew there was a group who wanted to work. I didn’t know if that would transform into wins.”
Of the 23 players Moretz has on varsity, 10 are seniors, most playing important roles. It’s common for a team with such success to be senior-dominated – although Moretz added that 13 potential returnees bode well for the team's future.
Spitz, a forward, leads the team in scoring with 18 goals and 16 assists. Adam Strehlke, who centers the top line, is next with 12 goals and 12 assists. Both are seniors. Next are two juniors, Aaron Vyletel (14 goals, seven assists) and Dean Therriault (eight goals, 13 assists).
South sports four captains, with Strehlke and Therriault joined by Xander Mills and Tommy Daudlin. All are seniors. “Our leaders are our captains,” Moretz said. “Quite frankly, we have a lot of leaders.”
Lacking in size, South plays fast. The Blue Devils chase the puck and attempt to create scoring chances with their forechecking.
South’s lack of physical play may have hurt in its two losses, both to state powerhouse Trenton. Trenton won the first game 3-2 in overtime and the second 2-0, with the second goal coming after South pulled its goalie. But South did send 35 shots on goal the first time, and 34 the next.
“We’re a puck-first team,” Strickler said. “Coach told us that against Trenton to let them make their runs. Just go for the puck. Playing physical hasn’t been a key for us.”
That doesn’t mean there hasn’t been a concerted effort to play more consistently on the defensive end. Last season Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood downed South 10-2. This season, in the game immediately following the victory over DCC, South defeated Cranbrook Kingswood, 6-2.
Strehlke points to four reasons for his team’s turnaround. One is Moretz – and, partly because of the new coach, there’s a new attitude.
Strehlke also said players are more committed. And you can’t overlook the experience.
“(Moretz) is part of it,” he said. “But everyone has bought in. We’re playing better defensively. We’re allowing fewer shots. And Will has played well all year.
“You know winning, it’s more fun coming to the rink. Last year it wasn’t fun.”
To Moretz, coaching at this level is no different than it was for him coaching for Little Caesars or elsewhere. For one, he has his longtime assistant Nathan Reilly with him. Moretz allows Reilly the freedom to coach without micromanaging. Another key element, according to Moretz, is having his players pay attention to detail.
“They’re willing to do the little things,” he said. “They trust the game plan, and they execute it very well.”
Tom Markowski is a correspondent for the State Champs! Sports Network and previously directed its web coverage. He also covered primarily high school sports for the The Detroit News from 1984-2014, focusing on the Detroit area and contributing to statewide coverage of football and basketball. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Grosse Pointe South players celebrate during a 5-1 win over Riverview Gabriel Richard on Jan. 4. (Middle) Blue Devils senior Adam Strehlke (9) wins a faceoff during a 4-3 victory over Detroit Catholic Central on Jan. 8. (Photos courtesy of Brian McKenna and the Grosse Pointe South hockey program.)