Tradition, Community Drive Talented Trenton
By
Tom Markowski
Special for Second Half
December 14, 2017
TRENTON – There’s something special about the sport of ice hockey in Trenton. There are those who would contend, at the high school level, that Trenton is Hockeytown.
Trenton has won 14 MHSAA titles, second only to Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood’s 17. But the importance of hockey in this downriver community goes beyond winning on the ice. The sport transcends the ice to the lives of people who have never laced up skates.
Chad Clements has experienced this firsthand, first as a fan, then as a player and now as a coach.
Clements was a junior on the 1996 Class A championship team. He also played on two other teams (1995, 1997) that reached the Finals.
Clements played for legendary coach Mike Turner, and it was Clements who replaced Turner in 2014 when Turner retired.
Replacing someone who gave so much to the sport and the Trenton community would be a no-win situation for some. It’s often been said that you don’t want to replace a legend. You want to be that coach who replaced the guy who replaced the legend.
Not Clements. He spent 12 seasons as Turner’s assistant and had no doubts he was the right person for the job.
And Clements was not alone. Turner backed Clements, and so did the administration.
Dr. Michael Doyle is in his 13th year as principal at Trenton High and he had no second thoughts about whom his school district should hire to replace Turner.
“Chad is an educator, a true educator, on the ice and in the classroom,” Doyle said. “That was critical (in the hiring process). He knows his stuff. He’s a great teacher. He’s passionate. You keep it in the family, yes, but when the job opened up, he was the perfect fit.
“(And) as a principal, it’s so helpful to have coaches in the building.”
This is Clements’ 16th season coaching at Trenton, and it’s his 16th year teaching social studies at the high school. A graduate of Michigan State University, Clements, 38, has been groomed for his place in the community.
“As a player, I always had great respect for (Turner),” Clements said. “His son was a year older than me, and he played with my brother who was two years older than me. So I knew (Turner) at an early age. It was always ‘yes sir’ and ‘no sir’ when I was around him. He was a quiet guy, at that time, around me. Then my senior year he opened up to me, as a person. He asked me what I was I going to do. What plans did I have for college and after? So when I came back (to teach and coach), I remembered that.
“For me, as a coach, (our relationship) was completely different. Behind closed doors he’d talk and talk and talk about hockey and his family, and I never expected that.
“We’ve been close ever since.”
Turner holds the state record for career hockey coaching victories at 629. He began coaching in 1974, took some time away from the game following the 1981 season and returned to coaching in 1995, Clements’ first season on varsity. Of the program’s 14 MHSAA titles, Turner was on the bench for 11.
Clements said he and Turner talk at least once a week, about hockey and life in general. Turner travels extensively now, to Europe and throughout the U.S., and much of their conversations include capsules of the many sites Turner has seen. But when he’s back in the area, Turner is often seen at Trenton hockey games.
In many ways Clements is the right person at the right time for the program. He knows the expectations are high, yet at the same time he doesn’t place added pressure on himself to win. He was taught that if you do your best, by putting in the time and the work, then you can go home at night, look at yourself in the mirror and be satisfied with the results.
The results have been quite positive so far this season. The Trojans are 5-2 with losses to Detroit Catholic Central and Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood, two of the top teams in Division 1. Trenton, which will compete in Division 2, has defeated reigning Division 2 champion Birmingham Brother Rice (4-1).
“I’m surprisingly happy with our start,” Clements said. “I knew we would be young. I didn’t know what the expectations would be. I wouldn’t expect to be 5-2 after seven games, I’ll tell you that. The kids just keep working and working and working. We lost a tough one against Cranbrook in overtime, but the kids bounced back.”
Trenton has received a big boost from sophomore goaltender Joey Cormier. The Trojans would be lost without him – if for no other reason than Cormier is the lone goaltender of the roster. Another goalie will back up Cormier, but he won’t be eligible until the second semester.
“I told (Cormier), you’re my guy,” Clements said. “He’s given us a chance to win in every game.”
Last season was a disappointment for Clements and his team. The Trojans were defeated in a Pre-Regional by Livonia Churchill, 4-3 in overtime, and senior center Drew Welsch said some of the problems were internal. His team also is welcoming back the support from classmates.
“We lost our fan base,” he said. “We’re getting more support this season. We got our band back. … I’m good friends with the guys who get the student section going at games, and me and the other seniors are trying to get more to come out. So far it’s been fun. There’s nothing better than playing before a big crowd.”
The Trenton community’s passion for its hockey program certainly is a difference-maker. Some of the state’s top hockey players choose to play travel hockey rather than for their schools. On the travel circuit, players get more games, and against stronger competition.
But fewer fans, mostly family members, attend travel hockey games. School spirit doesn’t exist. And for Welsch, Trenton’s leading scorer last season and so far this winter, the trade-off isn’t worth it.
“This is my favorite team I’ve been a part of,” he said. “It’s the tradition. There’s not a team I’d rather play for.”
It’s a two-way street. The players receive the acclaim from the student body and the community, and they give back, too.
For the past month the players have been collecting cans to raise money to give to a needy family in Trenton for Christmas. The holiday came early this past Sunday for a single parent and her two children when the players presented her with $1,000 worth of gifts including clothes, food, a Lego set, a tablet, and gift cards.
“The support we get is awesome,” Welsch said. “I like doing it. They support us. We have to help them out in any way we can.”
That’s the way it is in Trenton. You grow up there, you go to school there and many, like Clements, return home to work there.
“Community, that’s what we try to sell,” he said. “Whether it’s your classmates in the crowd and when you get a teacher or a staff member there, it means a lot to these guys. To see your teacher in the stands, taking two or three hours out of their lives to watch you play, it means so much. Heck, we’ve had the mayor come out and firemen and police officers. I’ve been able to establish relationships. It’s nice to have that.”
Tom Markowski is a columnist and directs website coverage for the State Champs! Sports Network. He previously 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) Trenton’s Drew Welsch (12) moves the puck up ice with a teammate trailing. (Middle) Goalie Joey Cormier has been an anchor in net for the Trojans. (Below) Trenton’s players also took time this winter to bring an early Christmas to a local family. (Photos by Christine Stawowczyk.)
Veteran Coach, Huskies Eye Comeback
By
Pam Shebest
Special for MHSAA.com
December 21, 2015
PORTAGE — Although his hockey team skidded to the worst start during his 30-year coaching career, JD Kalleward and his Portage Northern Huskies still have that positive vibe going.
“We don’t want to keep losing,” senior co-captain Jack Budnick said last week after the team opened 0-7. “We want to turn it around as soon as we can.
“We’ve had a lot of close games where it’s just come down to a couple mistakes, and we’re working on them in practice.”
Portage Northern closed the 2015 portion of this season's schedule with its first win, 4-2 over Manistee on Friday, to move to 1-8 heading into the new year. And Kalleward is one reason the players are staying positive and focused, said senior co-captain Austin Killman.
“He’s been very vehement about hockey,” Killman said. “If he sees anybody slacking in practice, he’ll get them going.
“He’s been around the game for so long that he knows a lot about hockey and what systems will work in different situations. I have a lot of faith in his style.”
Kalleward said he honed his coaching style while working as an assistant to Art Missias, who passed away from cancer in 2010.
A netminder, Kalleward graduated from Northern in 1980. During his high school years, he helped coach goalies for his uncle, John Kalleward, Sr., and Missias with their squirt and peewee house teams.
It didn’t take long for JD to catch the coaching bug.
When Missias took over the head coaching job at Portage Northern 30 years ago, he tapped JD Kalleward to be his assistant. Thirteen years ago when Missias retired, Kalleward took his mentor’s place.
One of the lessons learned from Missias is helping Kalleward deal with his team’s record so far this year: “You may have a down game, but it’s just one game.
“You’ve got to move on, learn from your mistakes and take the positives from it. Try and hope in the next game you do better.”
After losing nine seniors to graduation from a team that went 18-9-0 overall, 8-2 in the Southwest Michigan High School Hockey League last season, Kalleward knew this would be a rebuilding season. But he didn’t expect such a challenging start, including 0-2 in the league.
“Six of our (first) seven games have been on the road against very good programs including Traverse City, Forest Hills, East Kentwood, so we’ve had some pretty stiff competition,” Kalleward said.
Besides Budnick and Killman, the Huskies have just two other seniors: forward Scott Verduzco and goalie Tim Fitzgerald.
Scoring other successes
Although the Huskies have struggled early on the ice, Kalleward is most proud of their academic performance.
In his 13 years as head coach, his team has earned academic all-state every season.
“The last two years we were the top academic team out of 160 hockey teams in Michigan,” he said. “Two years ago, our team’s (grade-point average) was 3.94. Last year, it was 3.96
‘We have a number of kids who are academically gifted. Of the nine who graduated last year, we had just one beneath a 3.0; the other eight were above 3.5.”
Last season, Joe Mancina, with a 4.65 GPA, became the Huskies’ third top state scholar athlete in the last six years, as measured by grade-point average.
One main reason Kalleward stresses academics is, “quite frankly, there aren’t too many who are going to sign NHL contracts,” he said. “We know that life after high school means doing well.
“Every Thursday we meet with the players after practice to talk about where they are at school, their grades. We offer tutoring with those who are struggling.”
Over the last 30 years, Kalleward has seen several changes to both the game and the players.
“Relative to talent, you used to have a lot more kids going the route of playing high school,” he said. “Now they have so many options for players depending on what they want to do with their hockey careers.”
He also said players don’t seem as independent as they were in past years.
“What we find is sometimes it’s hard for kids to make their own decisions or make good decisions on their own,” he said. “As a coach, besides the X’s and O’s, we try to help them with that.”
As an assistant coach, Kalleward took note of what worked especially well and wrote a manual of expectations for coaches, parents and players that he distributes every season.
“We have an agreement signed by both parents and players saying they’ve read and understood the 16 points of emphasis, everything in the agreement: ice time, player behavior on the ice, behavior off the ice, academics, and so on,” he said.
Among team requirements are wearing khakis, a shirt and tie when going to games, “The same apparel they’d wear for a job interview,” he said.
“We eat together quite a bit and have rules on behavior. There’s probably a good three pages of rules.”
Turnaround time
Killman said it’s up to the captains to help turn the team around.
“You have to get your guys motivated for games, and if they’re getting down on themselves, try to get them back up,” he said. “If they’re coming to practice slacking, you’ve got to push them.
“(Being captain) gives me more responsibility and I love responsibility.”
Budnick said Killman is one spark on the team.
“Out on the ice before we go to opening faceoff, we gather around the net and we talk about the key aspects that we want to work on in the game,” Budnick said. “Austin is always taking the responsibility and says exactly what we need to do.
“Austin is definitely the hardest worker on the team, and that’s a great leadership quality from my perspective. It pushes everybody else.”
Kalleward’s three assistants include two Portage Northern alums. Steve Stanley, who works with the forwards, graduated in 1983, and Ken Rogers, who works with the defense, in 1975.
Tom Askey, who played pro hockey, including with the NHL Anaheim Mighty Ducks in 1997-98 and the then-United Hockey League Kalamazoo Wings in 2006-07, works with the goalies.
In 1975, the Huskies made it to the Tier II MHSAA Final before losing to Lansing Catholic Central. They made at least the Semifinals four times under Missias.
In spite of this year’s start, the future looks promising for the Huskies with four juniors, 10 sophomores and two freshmen mixing with the senior leaders.
Juniors are forwards Spencer Brown, Andrew Fitzgerald, Jesse Liebert and defenseman Calvin Voss.
Sophomores are forwards Grant Ernst, Mason Seiferlein, Tyler Simon; blueliners Griffin McLoed, Roarke Ross, Leon Fieber, Dakota Meadmore; two-way players Will Todd, Caleb Martin and goalie Zach Bossch.
The freshmen are forwards Zonjic Singleton-Julian and Connor Sorge.
Northern picks back up this season’s schedule Jan. 2 against Okemos.
Pam Shebest served as a sportswriter at the Kalamazoo Gazette from 1985-2009 after 11 years part-time with the Gazette while teaching French and English at White Pigeon High School. She continues to freelance for MLive.com covering mainly Kalamazoo Wings hockey and can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Calhoun, Kalamazoo and Van Buren counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Coach JD Kalleward has spent 30 seasons behind the Portage Northern bench. (Middle) Joe Mancina, center, was last season's top state academic athlete with a 4.65 GPA. He is joined by, from left, all-state team selection Mitchell Kalleward, former NHL player Mike Knuble, Northern all-stater Matty Seiferlien and Coach JD Kalleward. (Below) The Huskies' locker room door. (Head shots) From left: JD Kalleward, Jack Budnick and Austin Killman. (Top two photos courtesy of JD Kalleward; bottom photo and head shots by Pam Shebest.)