Recent Region 17 News
Trio of alumni announced as Captains for '19-20 NCAA season
Division-I NCAA programs across the country have slowly started announcing their leadership groups this spring in preparation for next season. Among some of the players named include the likes of three Michigan high school hockey alumni selected to sport an extra letter on their sweaters for the ‘19-20 season. A tremendous honor for all involved, some of the names mentioned here have been leaders on and off the ice at every level.
Michigan State shared their leadership group on May 2nd, announcing Tommy Apap (U-D Jesuit, 2014) as one of their two captains for next season. An alternate captain for the Spartans as a sophomore in ‘18-19, Apap was also a captain as a senior for the Cubs back in ‘13-14, scoring 14 goals and 63 points in U-D’s run to a Division-I state semifinal. The Bloomfield Hills native left U-D, spending one season in the NAHL and two more in the USHL before landing in East Lansing for the fall of 2017.
Raymond Brice (Houghton, 2014) was named Michigan Tech’s next captain on May 21st, as the Houghton native will represent his hometown university next season. Brice previously captained the Gremlins during the ‘13-14 season, capping off his MI-HS career with 74 goals and 134 points in his final two years at Houghton. The forward left home, spending two seasons in the NAHL — one as a captain for the New Jersey Jr. Titans — before returning home to Michigan Tech for the ‘16-17 season.
The 2014 Mr. Hockey Award recipient Dominic Lutz (Livonia Stevenson, 2014) received the honor of being named alternate captain for Ferris State on May 23rd. The soon-to-be senior has been a leader at every stop of his career, first as a two-year captain for Stevenson where he won a Division-II state title in 2013. Lutz left Livonia for the NAHL’s Topeka Roadrunners, where he served as captain during his final year of juniors, scoring 26 goals and 50 points in 54 games. Now at FSU, Lutz has appeared in 60 games totaling six goals and 10 points during his college career.
40 of the best juniors and seniors head to Minnesota to make their mark.
Team Michigan Juniors and Seniors have spent the past two weeks prepping for the CCM NIT in Plymouth, Minnesota, where they will compete against teams comprised of the top high school players across the country including those from Minnesota, Massachusetts, North Dakota and Wisconsin.
A process that began in March with more than 250 of the top juniors and seniors in the state congregating at the Arctic Coliseum in Chelsea following the conclusion of the winter season, now culminates with the Minnesota showcase later this weekend.
For an eighth consecutive year, teams are assembled and put on display not just for the individual exposure of the players in attendance but to also showcase the strides and growth that Michigan high school hockey has made overall on a national stage in front of junior, NCAA and professional scouts.
Overall, Team Michigan has seen more than 70 players go on to compete in high-level junior and college hockey with some reaching the game’s highest level in the NHL. The 2018 Senior Team promoted eight players off last year’s squad to the NAHL and BCHL alone, serving as a premier launching point for those embarking on junior careers after high school.
This year’s senior team returns 12 players from the 20-man roster from a year ago; a then-junior team that went 2-2-0 at the 2018 NIT.
“It helps knowing what you’re getting yourself into, knowing what scouts are out there and how the tournament works,” said goaltender Sam Evola. “Second time coming around, you’re gonna have more experience. You’re gonna be better.”
The 2018 Mr. Hockey recipient, Evola is coming off of back-to-back Division-III state titles with Detroit Country Day and is currently tendered by the NAHL’s Minot Minotauros. Still, he said there’s plenty to prove in front of the scouts that will be in attendance and that this talented group is capable of turning some heads.
“The NA is great but I’d like to get drafted into the USHL and obviously get in front of some schools and get some school exposure and there’s a lot [at the tournament],” he said. “Guys like Joey Larson, Cam Blanton, Luke Evo. They’re solid players. It’s kinda cool to get to play with these guys before they go to their respective junior programs one last time is pretty cool to finish off your high school career.”
“Some of us knew each other just through high school hockey, MDHL, TPH Top 80 but we bonded really fast,” said Team Juniors defenseman Brendan Miles. “We’re just a great group altogether.”
Miles, a standout D-man in the MIHL for Detroit Catholic Central, battled it out against several of his fellow junior teammates during the regular season, including the likes of Seth Lause (Livonia Stevenson), Nick Marone (Brother Rice), Joey Cormier (Trenton) and Cristian Bronzino (Warren De La Salle) among several others. Now teammates, that comes as a bit of a relief that once opponents now come together to compete on the same side.
“Playing against him, it was difficult for me as a forward to go against him on a rush because he’s just a smart defenseman,” said Bronzino. “Playing with him, makes me feel safe on the back end because if I get beat by my guy — which I hope doesn’t happen — then I know that he’s back there to help us out.”
Miles helped anchor a CC defensive corps that went a near-perfect 29-1-1 this season and he’ll be expected to provide similar support on the back end for the juniors.
One advantage the senior group typically has to their advantage over the juniors ahead of the tournament is having players who know what to expect from the speed and competition level that the NIT is known for.
“You have an idea of what the two weeks is gonna be like and what you have to do to get the group together as a team,” said Tim Erkkila. “Having a lot of guys back from last year is big in the sense that we know what we have to do to build that chemistry so we can be as good as possible in Minnesota.”
A four-year letter-winner for Brighton, Erkkila is one of the most decorated defensemen in high school hockey. With back-to-back Division-I state championships in 2017 and 2018 as well as being named to the Michigan High School Hockey Coaches’ Association (MHSCHA) Dream Team his junior and senior years, the 6-foot-1, 185-pound defender has seen plenty of high-level hockey during his high school career.
As one of the 12 seniors returning to the lineup from last year’s squad, Erkkila said the Team Michigan experience is a unique one for him.
Tim’s cousin and senior teammate Sam Erkkila finished up his final season, concluding a three-year career with Calumet. The showcase presents a rare opportunity for the Erkkila family to support both boys on the ice at the same time.
“I’m sure they have a lot of fun watching,” Tim said. “Any time you get to play with a family member that lives 500 miles away, that’s pretty cool.”
Coach Ryan Ossenmacher will coach the Seniors for a seventh time, joined by Jeff Fleming and Jay Thompson. A dozen returners provide a wealth of experience and familiarity for the squad with not one, but two Mr. Hockey recipients in Evola and 2019 honoree Joey Larson (Hartland). Newcomers and first-timers like Gabe Anderson (Hartland), Kevin Bostwick (Houghton), Patrick Donnelly (Houghton), Carter Korpi (Detroit Catholic Central), Anthony Mollica (Jenison), Daniel Nelson (Grand Rapids Catholic Central), Gage Thrall (Davison) and Jack VandDenBeurgery (Plymouth) breathe some fresh air and newness into the group as well.
While the seniors will rely on past experience, the juniors will be flying blind in a way, preparing for the idea of an unknown opponent.
“I honestly have no clue what they’re gonna be like,” said Will Jentz. “Our game yesterday, the coaches said it was gonna be two, three times faster than it was out there. That should just be a lot of fun going out [to Minnesota]. We won’t know, we’ll just have to bring whatever we have and just show them what we have to do and not adapt to what they do.”
The general consensus among juniors was that cohesion happened quickly with the mood in the locker room and team meetings coming naturally.
Lack of familiarity lends itself more to surprises but Bronzino suggested that the unforeseen can be a good thing too.
“Actually, one of the kids on our line, Brady [Rappuhn] from Saginaw Heritage,” he said. “I haven’t seen them play or really seen him play ‘til now. He’s fitting in real well and you know that those guys that come from areas out there want to work real hard and work their butts off for spots on the power play or the penalty kill, whatever it may be and just want to fill their role and be the best at it.”
Rappuhn is one-of-six juniors from outside of metro Detroit, coming off of an ‘18-19 season in which he scored 24 goals and 62 points in 25 games for the Hawks.
With offensive firepower upfront, there has been a clear focus in training camp and attempting to prepare the juniors for an unfamiliar opponent.
“We’re very strong offensively,” said Miles. “We’re trying to be just as strong defensively and I think in practice that’s what we’ve really tried to work on so I think we’re going to be a really hard team to compete against.”
The Junior and Senior teams will head to Minnesota together on Wednesday morning by bus, before games get underway Thursday afternoon. The two teams will compete in opposite pools, playing in three round-robin games. Playoff and consolation games will bring the tournament to a close on Sunday. Follow @TeamMichHockey on Twitter for updates all weekend long and keep tabs on both squads!
Confidence Points for the eight teams remaining in each division
Ah, what an exciting and action-packed opening week of playoffs! From starting with 138 teams, to only having eight remain in each Division as we enter the State Tournament on Tuesday. Be sure to check out this year’s Regional Champs HERE.
FULL DISCLOSURE follow-up to last week’s Regional Playoff Predictions…
The Favorites: 17 Champions
Under The Radar: Four Champions
The Darkhorses: One Champion
Total Misses: Two Champions
All-in-all, a great week of worthy champions; some mainstays like DCC, Hartland, Stevenson, Trenton, Big Rapids and FHNE as well as some first timers in Petoskey, Cap City and the Bay Reps. Big shoutouts to Rochester United and Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard; two teams that proved me wrong and made us all pay for looking past them in Regionals, congrats on your well-deserved Wooden Mittens.
As we shift focus to the eight-team State Tournament, I wanted to change things up a bit and introduce Confidence Picks to the playoff projections. With so many great teams still remaining, it would be virtually impossible to limit potential contenders to just three teams in a Favorite, Under The Radar and Dark Horse format like last week. So this time around, I’ll rank teams in each division not by talent, skill or program history but by their likelihood of winning the entire tournament, given the potential matchups and path to a championship. Eight points to the ones I’m most confident in and one point to the longest shot of the division. Let’s get started…
DIVISION-I
- Salem: If the Rocks drew any other remaining team in the Quarterfinal, they could be as high as 5 or 6, but drawing DCC is the worst possible scenario here. The road to a D-I state title would involve wins against their three toughest opponents of the year and that is a tall task for Salem, who is 1-6-0 against teams ranked higher than them by MyHockey.
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Rochester United: They’ve got a major challenge in the Quarterfinals and an even bigger giant in the semis, should they survive OLSM on Wednesday. RU has had a tremendous run at 25-3-0 overall but I just don’t think there’s enough fight left to run with the big dogs.
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Cap City: The Cinderella of D-I, Heritage (No. 4) will be the toughest team the Capitals will have faced all year long. Jenison (No. 47) was their biggest test thus far, and that was a 5-1 loss back in December, however, if they shock the world in the Quarters there’s a chance CCC could qualify for the D-I Final.
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Orchard Lake St. Mary’s: I could be overvaluing the Eaglets here, as I don’t know that this is one of the stronger OLSM teams we’ve seen in recent history. However, I’m confident in their ability to get to the semis with a chance to play CC and of the eight teams in D-I, I think they’ve got the best shot — albeit a small one — to take down the favorite.
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Byron Center: They’ve never been “out” of a game this season. At 22-5-1, the Bulldogs have been one of the best west-side teams in ‘18-19 and all of their losses are by two-goals-or-less, so I’m confident they’ll compete with anyone they take the ice with. It’s not an easy road but a winnable game in the Quarters and another one in the semis, so look out for BC.
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Bay Reps: I said Byron Center could win at Ewigleben Ice Arena and they can, but I’d definitely lean towards the Bay Raps in the Wednesday matchup. I really like this Reps team and I think they’d give Heritage a better fight in a potential semifinal matchup than they did when the Hawks handled them 6-1 back in December.
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Saginaw Heritage: I fully expect them to be one-half of the D-I finale for a second consecutive season. I don’t think the outcome will be different than 2018 but hey, get to the title game and anything can happen! With three skilled lines, they’ll get up and down the ice with anyone left in the tournament.
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Detroit Catholic Central: There’s really no reason why the Shamrocks shouldn’t win the D-I title. Honestly, I think they’re three goals better than the other seven teams remaining. No disrespect meant to the field, this CC team is just that good. No team in the state has solved the Shamrocks this season and I don’t believe anyone will.
DIVISION-II
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Forest Hills Northern-Eastern: They’ve been living on the edge! Back-to-back overtime thrillers in the Regional semis and championship game but I think the well runs dry on Tuesday against Hartland. There’s plenty of offensive firepower in D-II and I highly doubt FHNE has the guns to go up and down the ice with the likes of Hartland, Rice and others.
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Port Huron Northern: Like the Husky-Hawks (is that what FHNE calls themselves?), I don’t know if PHN can score on Rice in their Quarterfinal matchup, let alone a Hartland or Trenton. It’s been a great run for Northern but a road to the finale gets real rocky here in the Elite Eight.
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Petoskey: They’re in unchartered waters. By my count, the program hasn’t reached this stage of the tournament in more than 20 years so they’re gonna have to elevate their game if they want to compete with the blue bloods. I think they have a small chance against Marquette in the Quarters, but they’ll need some more postseason magic to get to a title.
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Trenton: On paper, they’re intimidating but after watching their Regional Final I think talented squads like the ones below can out-class the Trojans. The 6-0 loss to Stevenson a month ago raises a red flag, even though I expect a closer game in the Quarterfinal rematch. Trenton is certainly capable of winning the whole thing but they could just as easily be eliminated by Tuesday.
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Brother Rice: I fully anticipate a rematch in the semis from the MIHL-KLAA Showcase when Hartland defeated Rice 5-1 in December. However, I expect that rematch in Plymouth to be much, much closer the second time around. If the Warriors are to make a serious run at a title, they’ll need next-level goaltending to give themselves a chance against the firepower they’d face in Elite Eight action.
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Livonia Stevenson: It’s gonna be boom-or-bust with the Spartans. Another team with a legitimate chance at the D-II title but could just as easily be knocked out by Trenton on Tuesday. They’ve already beaten the Trojans and Hartland — twice — but throw that out the window in playoff rematches. I like their chances a lot but it’ll require three intense games to get it done; a much tougher grind than I think other contenders would have.
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Marquette: I said before the tournament started, if there’s one team in D-II I don’t want to face, it’s the Redmen and I’m sticking to it. They’re “U.P. tough” with a stingy defensive effort that allows less than two goals against per game and will bring the support of an entire peninsula with them to Plymouth. They’re not the best team in the division but Marquette may be the hungriest, most balanced team in the field with a great path to the title.
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Hartland: Maybe they shouldn’t be the favorite. Losses to Trenton and Stevenson, I don’t know… Literally 4 through 8 could be interchangeable in D-II but the Eagles are the most talented of the group, with the best goalie among the eight, arguably the easiest road and a title to defend in a fourth straight trip to Plymouth. Why WOULDN’T they be the favorite?
DIVISION-III
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East Grand Rapids: It’s not so much their Quarterfinal matchup that hinders their chances but the potential Semifinal draw that has me concerned about the Pioneers’ title hopes. Big Rapids will be a tall task on Wednesday and the winner of Country Day/U-D at Plymouth would be monumental. I just don’t know if East has enough gas left to get to a title, let alone bring it home.
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Big Rapids: Same concerns as above, but the Cardinals won me over with their Regional Championship run so much so that I’m looking at them to knock off EGR in the Quarters. I didn’t think they had enough firepower to make it this far… and then they hung a six-spot on Dow and an eight-spot on Powers. Their top is really good but depth may be what holds them back in Plymouth.
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Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard: Their path isn’t as rough as some others in D-III, and the Irish have played stellar in the playoffs so far. The Quarterfinal matchup is pretty balanced and could go either way but if they survive the Battle of Gabriel Richards, coach Clint Robert will have to push his kids to the next level if they’re going to hold their own with the competition at USA Hockey Arena.
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Riverview Gabriel Richard: I’m giving the Pioneers a slight edge in that Quarterfinal, as they’ve played a tougher slate in ‘18-19, priming them for this time of year. I still don’t think there’s enough steam to get over the next hump but GR has played Alpena and Country Day — twice — tough enough to prove they can skate with everyone remaining in the D-III playoffs.
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U-D Jesuit: I like the Cubs a lot. I hate their Quarterfinal matchup more though. This is another boom-or-bust as U-D could potentially win it all or they could be cut out of the playoff picture by Wednesday. I do believe whoever wins that tilt will be one-half of the D-III finale and most likely be the favorite to win against whoever comes from the other half of the bracket.
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Houghton: Their top is really good and may be the best among the eight teams remaining but a path to a title would involve going through the two best goalies in high school hockey. This time of year in a matchup between high-powered offenses and stingy goaltending, I’m giving the nod to the netminders here but you could swap 5-6-7-8 and wouldn’t get an argument from me.
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Alpena: I’ll admit, I’m picking with my heart on this one. They’ve been a great story all year long but they have certainly earned every bit of it on the ice, building up an impressive resume. If the Wildcats get to the D-III final, we could end up playing all night long because I don’t know if anyone’s scoring in a Cooper Black v. Sam Evola showdown.
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Detroit Country Day: If there’s a reason why they shouldn’t be the favorite, please let me know. For starters, they don’t have to play Woodhaven, a team that’s handed the Yellowjackets two of their four losses, so that’s a big plus! In all seriousness though, I think they’re one of the most complete teams I’ve seen this season playing in front of the best goalie in the state. That U-D matchup is certainly the biggest concern but I think that game could be quite similar to DCD’s’ low-scoring affair with Cranbrook earlier in the playoffs.
Well, this is it folks! Whether you win or lose, it’s the final week of the season for everyone remaining. I wish all teams nothing but the best down the stretch here. Take some time to truly enjoy the little moments this week and appreciate what you’ve accomplished. Only three teams earn the privilege of ending their seasons — and in some instances, careers — with a victory, so make the most of final practices, bus rides and memories with the boys while you can!
Feel free to connect with me on Twitter and argue my picks 140 characters at a time!
State Bound!
- By Craig Peterson 03/03/2019, 10:30am EST
Regional Final Predictions For 2019
- By Craig Peterson 02/22/2019, 2:15pm EST
