Stenman Provides Boost to Cranbrook Kingswood Blue Line
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
March 5, 2021
Having lived in northern California for the past decade, needless to say, there was a bit of a weather adjustment for Leyton Stenman when he arrived last year to attend school at Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood.
“
Before coming here last year, I didn’t even own a pair of pants,” Stenman said.
He obviously has since solved that issue, and has not only settled into life during Michigan winters, but at school and also as one of the state’s best prep hockey players.
A 6-foot, 170-pound defenseman, Stenman was an all-state player last year in his first year playing high school hockey in Michigan, tying for the team lead in goals with 11 even though he plays along the blue line.
Entering action on Friday, Stenman has eight points (three goals, five assists) in nine games for the Cranes.
“He really came on during the last month of last year,” Cranbrook head coach John LaFontaine said. “He’s got a knack for finding the net from the point. He’s got a really good shot. He’s got really good vision, and he’s worked on release from the point. He’s got a lot of velocity on his shot and good accuracy.”
Despite spending most of his childhood in suburban San Jose, Stenman has Michigan roots, which is how he got into hockey in the first place.
Living in Ann Arbor until he was 6, Stenman would regularly visit the Ann Arbor Ice Cube to watch his sister, who was a figure skater.
“I just thought it was cool to watch,” Stenman said. “Then I convinced my parents to let me skate.”
Even after he moved out to California, Stenman stayed active in hockey, taking advantage of the increased presence of ice rinks and youth teams as a result of the San Jose Sharks being a staple in the community.
But one thing California has little of is high school hockey, and it’s common for players there as they age to look toward the Midwest and East Coast to further their development.
The travel hockey that took him away from schoolwork also was a hindrance in California.
“I wanted to play for my school,” Stenman said.
So Stenman and his family researched possibilities on the East Coast and Midwest, but through his mother growing up in Michigan and the family's time in Ann Arbor, they knew a lot about Cranbrook.
After applying to the school and getting accepted, Stenman said he then visited Wallace Ice Arena.
His jaw immediately dropped looking up at the banners in the rafters and hardware in the trophy case, and he knew then he was in the right place.
“It was all I needed to see,” Stenman said. “You walk in and see all the trophies and all the state championships. It was pretty amazing.”
In the coming month, Stenman will hope to add to Cranbrook’s record number of MHSAA Finals championships by helping the program win title No. 18 during the Division 3 playoffs, which would actually break a drought by Cranbrook’s standards.
Cranbrook hasn’t won the Finals since 2015.
Beyond high school, Stenman already has options.
In November, he signed a tender to play next season in the North American Hockey League for the Aberdeen Wings. He hopes that exposure will lead to an opportunity to play for a prominent college program.
“Anyone in the Big 10 is the dream,” Stenman said. “But I’ll be happy to play at any Division I program.”
When he sets off on his hockey journey beyond high school, Stenman now should at least have a few pairs of pants in tow.
PHOTO: Cranbrook Kingswood’s Logan Stenman looks to make his next move during a game last season against Detroit Catholic Central (Photo courtesy of C&G Newspapers.)
Hancock Finishes Long Trip as Champion
April 14, 2016
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
As the Hancock hockey team bus rolled into town to end last month’s Division 3 championship run, coach Dan Rouleau warned his players that the celebration was just getting started.
“I told these kids on the bus coming home, they were going to be rock stars over the next month,” he recalled Thursday. “And they certainly are.”
That’ll happen when a hockey-crazed community earns its first MHSAA title since 1999, along the way beating 17-time champion Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood 2-1 in overtime in the Semifinal and four-time finalist Grand Rapids Catholic Central 4-2 in the championship game.
And despite the Bulldogs’ No. 2 ranking heading into the postseason, the run was made all the more incredible considering Hancock, with 262 students, had the lowest enrollment of among hockey schools in Michigan this winter and was paced by two underclassmen leading scorers and a sophomore goaltender.
“I told the guys before the season started that we’ve got a chance to do something special. I really felt like we had the chance to do this,” said Rouleau, who was an assistant for the 1999 team that won the Class B-C-D title. “When we were looking at who was coming back for the other teams, when we got to the Quarterfinals we told (our team) there are seven teams that could beat you guys, and seven that you could beat. It was that close.”
The Bulldogs are the Applebee’s Team of the Month for March after finishing the run as the best of that final eight, but also with a school-record 24 wins to go with only six losses – four decided in overtime and the other two by only one goal apiece.
Seniors Jack Fenton and Dylan Paavola made the Division 3 all-state first and seconds teams, respectively, bringing a veteran presence to the group of blueliners. But behind them, all-state goalie Dawson Kero was only a sophomore. Sophomore right wing Teddy Rendell was the team’s leading scorer with 24 goals and 36 assists, making the all-state first team, and freshman left wing Alex Nordstrom made the second team with 33 goals and 26 assists. (They were centered by senior Danny Hill, who joined Fenton and Paavola as captains.)
But on-ice dominance was only part of what made Hancock’s run so memorable. Here’s some of the rest:
Hancock, just over the Portage Lake Bridge on the Upper Peninsula’s Keweenaw Peninsula, is one of Michigan’s northernmost towns – and located 540 miles from USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth, home of the MHSAA Finals. Hancock also is 100 miles from Marquette, where it faced Sault Ste. Marie in a Quarterfinal on March 9, two days before it would take on the Cranes in their Semifinal.
First-year athletic director Steve Aho knew if his team won Tuesday in Marquette, it wouldn’t return home but would keep going all the way to Plymouth – so he was charged with planning for a potential five days of hotels, transportation, meals and more. He also started on plans for a fan bus that would bring students to the championship game if Hancock won the Semifinal that Thursday.
Neither trip would come cheap, of course. But that’s where Hancock’s wide-reaching web of supporters stepped in.
Teams making the long trip downstate frequently fund-raise to offset costs, Aho said. In this case the Bulldogs decided to try a GoFundMe crowd-funding web page, asking for $6,000 to combine with what the MHSAA gives teams for travel.
Aho had the team’s seniors write their story before the Quarterfinal, so the request would be in their voice and from their perspective. He published it immediately after the Bulldogs beat Sault Ste. Marie – and by Wednesday, $3,000 had been raised with funds coming in from alumni spread all over the Midwest and beyond. Within two days, the $6,000 was raised, which when combined with funds from the MHSAA paid for the trip.
Rouleau said as the bus traveled south, his players watched the donations come in on their phones – and also the inspirational messages left by alums, including the Chicago Blackhawks’ Tanner Kero. “These guys knew they were involved in something special at that point,” Rouleau said.
Meanwhile, the school’s athletic boosters paid for most of a fan bus that was filled with 51 (for 53 seats) who made the trip to root on the Bulldogs – then got right back on the bus for the long trip home.
But what a trip back it was for the team. A Marquette County Sheriff’s deputy escorted the bus through that county, then passing the Bulldogs off to a Baraga County deputy. From Munising homeward (about 150 miles) the parade continued to grow until it swelled to roughly 40 rescue vehicles followed by fan vehicles for another mile (see the long line arriving in town on the video below).
It was a trip none of the players or coaches will forget. Rouleau had enjoyed the 1999 championship with his son and nephew on the team, but this run certainly rivals if not surpasses the first – not only is Rouleau now the head coach, but he also was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease six years ago and was hoping he’d have another opportunity to take a team downstate before his health would make him step down.
With the players Hancock should bring back next season, his team's next trip to Plymouth might come after a much shorter wait.
Past Teams of the Month, 2015-16:
February: Petoskey boys skiing – Report
January: Spring Lake boys swimming & diving – Report
December: Saginaw Heritage girls basketball – Report
November: Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard volleyball – Report
October: Benton Harbor football – Report
September: Mason and Okemos boys soccer – Report
PHOTOS: (Top) Hancock players celebrate after their Division 3 Final win over Grand Rapids Catholic Central last month. (Middle) The Bulldogs turn to salute fans who also made the 500-mile trip to USA Hockey Arena.