Tryouts for two of high school hockey’s premier fall programs took place this month, with Michigan Hockey Advancement’s (MHA) Top 80 and the Michigan Developmental Hockey League (MDHL). I was fortunate enough to sit in on portions of both evaluation processes, thanks to Rick Gadwa with TPH and Bill Burns of the MDHL, and was blown away by the growth that high school hockey collectively continues to show year in and year out. 

With just a 25-game regular season and strict limitations on player-coach contact under MHSAA rules, it is important for high school hockey to thoroughly explore, promote and encourage participation from all players at events like these. From the MDHL and MHA, to Copper Country and Elite Brigade, these entities continue to reach as many schools and players from across the state as possible. These “out-of-season” offerings are huge opportunities for growth and exposure that will help better the game and improve the overall product November through March.

Whatever your reason was [for trying out], remember it. Getting cut doesn’t mean you were wrong but how you respond to it could be. 

 

Nearly 200 players from 48 different schools lobbied for spots in the hotly contested Top 80 Showcase coming up on August 23rd and more than 300 players representing 81 schools across the state looked to earn a place in the MDHL regular season, that kicked off this past weekend. There’s some crossover of players trying out for both outlets, but coupling those numbers with the ones that Elite Brigade and Copper Country will draw as well, I think it’s safe to assume in excess of 500 Michigan High School Hockey players are looking to further their skills and take their game to the next level outside of the regular season. 

That is awesome.

It should be considered a tremendous accomplishment and huge opportunity to develop for the 80 players selected to be in MHA’s Showcase and programming as well as the 130ish players chosen to compete in an über-competitive MDHL. 

But I’ve got an important message for the players that don’t make it and the coaches whose kids don’t make the cut… Remember why you tried out in the first place.

Did you think you were one of the best players in the state? Did you wanna see how you stacked up against top talent? Do you want to get noticed by scouts or think these programs will help promote you to college hockey and beyond? Did you want your players to experience high-level hockey and get them out of their comfort zones? Did you think you’ve got a lot of talent and ‘this is the year’ your team makes a run?

Whatever your reason was, remember it. Getting cut doesn’t mean you were wrong but how you respond to it could be. 

After being cut from a team, the easy response is to play the politics card and say things like, “they only take kids from certain areas of the state” or getting caught up in the comparison game with “they took that kid over me?”

The truth is, a lot of good can actually come from getting cut.

*GASP* “But this was my only chance and I’m gonna miss out on X, Y, Z, and I play for a small school and I’ll never get exposure now, I’m never wasting my time and money to come to this tryout ever again!”

Look, getting cut from anything is a tough pill to swallow but playing the blame game, making excuses and getting bitter about the process doesn’t do anyone any good. If you’re a player who wants to compete at a higher level like junior, you’re gonna have to endure A LOT more evaluations than this one. If you’re a coach trying to build a program and develop young players, you could have a dozen kids get cut before one finally cracks through.

No singular tryout defines you as a player. If you’re serious about climbing the hockey ladder and playing junior/college or a school in general looking to grow and move up the ranks, it’s all about building your hockey resume. Yes, a good regular season is important but being in the mix at major events like Team Michigan tryouts and fall programming like these past weeks, it all goes towards your resume.

You might’ve gotten cut from Team Michigan in March. You might’ve gotten cut again from the Top 80 last week. You might even get cut again before you graduate high school. But the little things will start to add up. First, you’ll get more comfortable with being evaluated, playing in a fast-paced environment with unfamiliar teammates and learning how you can stand out as an individual. Then, there’s little victories along the way like being invited to the All-Star Game on Sunday or qualifying as one of the 16-20 goalies invited to weekend tryouts.

Evaluators will recognize your name, your school, your playing style. You might not have been right the right fit at your first tryout but scouts will remember you at the next tryout because of the first one. 

Let me provide some real-life examples to explain. 

Big Rapids had four guys at the MDHL tryouts last weekend. Multiple players showed out and grabbed my attention, including Blake Neibarger, who’s a good-sized defenseman that moves well, held good positioning and was a physical presence. Neibarger, along with his three teammates, did not get an initial invite to play in the 2019 MDHL season. 

(I’ll preface the next paragraph as strictly hypothetical. I do not know the coach or players personally and these are in no way a direct reflection on them in any way. Only generalized questions that many draw from such evaluations.) 

So is there a bias against Big Rapids? No. Are they incapable of playing against the best players the state? No. Should coach Tim Blashill stop sending his kids to the MDHL tryouts because his top players didn’t make the cut? NO!! 

The Cardinals are gonna be a good team this season. They’ll have some really talented players that are going to help them win a lot of games, including Neibarger, Thomas Crandall, Lewis MacDonald and Cameron Massy. The school has been well-represented in past MDHL seasons by the likes of Fletcher Bolda and Drew Wotta, and I believe contributions like that have aided significantly in the progress that the program has made over the last few seasons under Coach Blashill. 

Just because Big Rapids isn’t represented in this year’s MDHL, doesn’t mean the four players (and program as a whole) haven’t benefited from the exposure that the tryout has to offer. Want more? I could point to examples of players I saw the past two weeks from Clarkston and Novi among other schools, Jackson Lumen Christi has a goalie I’m really excited about, but the point I want to drive home to everyone is simple:

Players… You want to get scouted? These types of evaluation skates are invaluable for that type of exposure, whether you make the cut or not. I’ve been a part of several evaluation processes over the years; if guys like Neibarger stood out to me, odds are they stood out to others as well. Scouting is subjective. What I like in a player, others may not and what others appreciate, I may not. They are no more right than I am wrong. No one tryout defines you, but the way you respond could. 

Coaches… You want to see how your players stack up against others in the state? Come watch. Come support your guys and see how they compete. As coaches, we’ve all evaluated, assembled rosters and assessed players’ strengths and weaknesses. Whether you’ve got one player trying out or ten players, watch your kids in action and see how deep the talent pool is at tryouts. Nobody knows your players better than you do. Would you have picked them?

It’s easy to say you got screwed. It’s easy to throw your arms up in disgust and curse the evaluators. It’s easy to feel sorry for yourself. Instead, why not seek feedback? Both good and bad critiques. Find out what you’re doing right and where you need to improve on. Ask how you can stand out, what it will take to make the team next time around and ask yourself if you’re willing to go the extra mile. 

Whether it be the MDHL, Elite Brigade, MHA or anything else, there’s a heavy influence from high school coaches that are more than willing to offer constructive criticism and advice on how to stand out amongst the crowd. Take advantage of that and connect with them, get help from people who want to help. 

When the dust settles from these tryouts, use that motivation, stay hungry and come back to the next tryout more prepared than the last.

Remember your ‘why’ because you can still achieve it without making the cut. 

Continue the conversation with me on Twitter, would love to hear your thoughts, comments, questions and feedback!

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

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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!