Clarkston Eying Postseason Possibilities with Challenging Regular-Season Schedule
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
December 20, 2023
It might not be January just yet, but the Clarkston hockey team has probably already felt like it has competed in the MHSAA Tournament for the 2023-24 season.
The Wolves have gone through a gauntlet of a nonleague schedule, with two games against last season’s Division 1 runner-up Brighton, a game against reigning Division 3 ion Flint Powers Catholic and a contest against Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central, a Division 1 semifinalist last winter.
However, there has been a method to the madness for a Clarkston team that’s normally not so ambitious with nonleague scheduling.
The Wolves saw a 20-win season end with a 6-1 Regional Final loss to Hartland in March, and the idea is that playing some of the state’s best so early will toughen Clarkston up further for when this season’s playoffs arrive.
“I think we’ve already kind of went through hard times and had moments of adversity,” Clarkston head coach Nathan Bryer said. “We’re already a team that has faced a lot more hardship than our team last year at this point. I think last year at this point, we were still undefeated and had an easier time with it.”
So far, Clarkston has done a good job navigating the tough early slate, with wins over Powers and Forest Hills Central and close defeats to Brighton (4-3 and 3-1).
It’s all in an effort to eventually do something no team in school history or any squad in the Oakland Activities Association has done – win a Division 1 Finals championship.
No OAA squad has reached the championship game in Division 1 since Clarkston did so in 2005, and only two have reached the Division 1 Semifinal round since 2011 (Lake Orion in 2011 and Rochester United in 2019).
Farmington is the only OAA school to ever win a Finals hockey title, doing so in Division 3 in 2014.
Based on who returns from last year’s team, Clarkston likely will be in the conversation and could represent the OAA’s best chance in recent years to have a team make it back to Plymouth and the season’s final weekend, and perhaps do some winning there also.
The Wolves return 15 players off a team that dominated the OAA last season, finishing 8-1-1 in league play.
Junior forward Ron Wade was a first-team all-state performer in Division 1, while defenseman Evan Adams was named second-team all-state.
Those two along with forward Owen Croston are the team’s captains this winter.
The Wolves are 7-2 going into a Thursday night contest against league rival Rochester Hills Stoney Creek.
With so much familiarity among players and coaches, not as much time needed to be spent during the offseason getting to know one another.
“The team is already pretty bonded this year,” Adams said. “We didn’t really have to worry that much about being a big group, or chemistry, this year.”
In January, the toughening-up process won’t end for Clarkston, given the Wolves will have a game against four-time reigning Division 1 champion Detroit Catholic Central.
“We haven’t had a hard (nonleague) schedule before until this year,” Croston said. “We just have to be ready for those games.”
When the MHSAA Tournament does roll around, Clarkston will have to jump over the same hurdles it usually must in its Regional – Hartland and Lake Orion.
Wade said the team still has lessons learned from the playoff loss to Hartland on its mind.
“We just learned that we really have to stick to our identity in those games,” he said. “This year, we have to rely on our forecheck and all of us pushing for the same thing.”
Indeed, it might not be 2024 yet, but Clarkston already has found out a lot about itself as it tries to replicate the postseason in November and December before the real one arrives.
“I think those teams who play a rigorous schedule all year, they are a little bit more battle-tested when Regionals come around,” Bryer said. “That was our goal this year, to have a team that’s played against top-10 opponents consistently all year. I think we’ll be better for it throughout the regular season, and better for it in Regionals.”
Keith Dunlap has served in Detroit-area sports media for more than two decades, including as a sportswriter at the Oakland Press from 2001-16 primarily covering high school sports but also college and professional teams. His bylines also have appeared in USA Today, the Washington Post, the Detroit Free Press, the Houston Chronicle and the Boston Globe. He served as the administrator for the Oakland Activities Association’s website from 2017-2020. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties
PHOTOS (Top) Clarkston warms up before a recent practice at Detroit Skate Club. (Middle) Clarkston warms up before a recent practice at Detroit Skate Club. (Photos by Keith Dunlap.)
Detroit Catholic Central Raises Hockey Record with 6th-Straight Finals Title
March 8, 2025
PLYMOUTH — There’s no place Brandon Kaleniecki would rather make history as a coach than at the place he helped make history as a player.
Kaleniecki played two seasons at Detroit Catholic Central during its run of five consecutive MHSAA hockey championships from 1999 to 2003 before going on to play for the University of Michigan.
That was the record for most consecutive MHSAA hockey championships until now.
The Shamrocks broke the record they shared with their predecessors from more than two decades ago, winning a sixth title in a row with a 4-1 victory over Howell in the Division 1 championship game Saturday night at USA Hockey Arena.
“It’s fun as a player, because you’re part of it in such a different way,” Kaleniecki said. “Perhaps it’s more fun as a coach, because you get to sit back and kind of watch them enjoy it more. For a lot of guys, it might be their last years playing hockey. You just want them to go out with this experience, the same experience I was fortunate to have.
“I think that’s what makes it special for me. It’s a different group in that run every year. I can look back and go, ‘It was that senior class or this senior class.’ That’s what makes it fun for me.”
Kaleniecki has won seven MHSAA championships in 10 seasons as the Shamrocks’ coach. From 2010-16, Catholic Central won four Division 1 titles in seven years under four head coaches. Kaleniecki won the fourth championship during that run and has given the Shamrocks stability at the head of the program.
“When I came back to be the coach here, it felt like I just belonged,” he said. “I knew the surroundings, even though it was a different building and school. It felt like that’s where I wanted to be. When I got into coaching, I couldn’t imagine anywhere else I’d rather be coaching than right here. It really makes it very special for me.”
And each championship is special in its own way for Kaleniecki, because every season brings different challenges and a different set of players.
For example, senior Joe Bedells won this championship as the starting goalie after being the backup last season. He split the starts during the regular season before then-senior Mathieu Chernauckas took the reins for the playoff run.
Bedells allowed only three goals in five postseason games over the last 15 days.
“Last year, I backed up for Mathieu Chernauckas,” Bedells said. “He was an excellent goalie. He rightfully had that starting position. It absolutely drove me to be the best I can for this team and for myself to help win the state championship.”
The Shamrocks took a 2-0 lead on goals by Matthew Naida at 5:25 of the first period and Elian Szerlip at 5:07 of the second.
The Highlanders got back to within a goal when Bryce Eskola backhanded the puck toward the net from the right boards and it went in off the stick of a Catholic Central player at 6:56 of the second.
Catholic Central (28-2) re-established its two-goal lead when Peter Sanin scored with 5:06 remaining in the second period.
The celebration was on once defenseman Ryan Dye scored into an empty net with 50.2 seconds left in the game. It was Dye who scored the biggest goal during the playoff run, an overtime goal in a 2-1 victory over second-ranked Hartland in the Regional championship game.
Heading into the postseason, Warren De La Salle Collegiate defeated Catholic Central in overtime, handing the Shamrocks’ their first loss to a Michigan school in three years. Catholic Central kicked it into gear and went 5-0 in the playoffs, extending their MHSAA Tournament winning streak to 35 games.
“The loss to De La Salle, that was a real defining moment for us, because they kind of flipped the switch and had to find a way down the stretch when it wasn’t easy,” Kaleniecki said.
It was the third MHSAA Finals appearance for Howell, all of which ended with losses to Catholic Central. The first two were in 2009 and 2010.
The Highlanders lost only one game in regulation time all season before Saturday, ending 24-4-2.
“This year we feel like we changed the face of the program across the board,” first-year Howell coach Keith Robertson said. “I told the seniors they changed the trajectory of the program when you take it to the state Finals. It’s special. I couldn’t be more proud of this group. They’ve changed things forever in Howell.”
The Shamrocks outshot the Highlanders 41-10. Henry Lansky made 37 saves for Howell.
PHOTOS (Top) Detroit Catholic Central players raise their championship trophy Saturday at USA Hockey Arena. (Middle) The Shamrocks’ Nick Leiter (3) and Howell’s Ben Huotari contend for a loose puck. (Below) Matthew Naida (12) contemplates his next pass as Bryce Eskola (17) moves in to apply pressure.