Houghton Never Stops Believing, Rallies Late to Claim 1st Finals Title Since 1982
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
March 7, 2026
PLYMOUTH — When entering the town of Houghton in recent years, there is one sign that seems to stick out more than others – at least to the Houghton High School hockey program.
“When you came into town, it said for years and years ‘State champs 1982,’” Houghton head coach Micah Stipech said, referring to the year Houghton last won an MHSAA Finals championship in ice hockey. “Now we can put a new one up.”
Indeed, as the Gremlins can finally once again call themselves Finals champions following a 5-2 triumph over Orchard Lake St. Mary’s in Saturday’s Division 3 championship game at USA Hockey Arena.
It’s difficult to fathom that one of the state’s premier programs had gone 44 years without a title, with its last championship the Class B-C-D crown in 1982.
Getting to the Final in recent years certainly wasn’t a problem for Houghton (25-6-1), as it was a runner-up in 2012, 2015 and 2019.
There just always was a downstate powerhouse it couldn’t overcome. But that wasn’t the case this time, thanks in large part to senior forward Jack Sayen.
Entering the game with 15 goals on the season, Sayen accounted for more than 25 percent of that total in the championship game, scoring four times for the Gremlins.
“I guess I was kind of in the right spot at the right time for some of them,” Sayen said. “I don’t care that I scored. I’m just happy our team won.”
Stipech said it was a slow start to the season, with his team breaking in a huge influx of underclassmen and losing six out of its first 10 games.
“We were supposed to be down,” Stipech said. “We had 10 underclassmen. It wasn’t going to be our year. We only won four out of our first 10. We’re on a three-game skid and this group right here are like ‘We got this. We just need some time, and we’re going to be all right. They still believed.”
That self-belief really came to the forefront after St. Mary’s took a 2-1 lead with 14:27 remaining on a goal by senior Dominic Pizzo, who fired a shot from between the face-off circles into the net.
Houghton got only stronger at that point, blitzing St. Mary’s with a four-goal surge over the next 10:54.
Sayen started the rally, tying the game at 2-2 when he stationed himself in front of the St. Mary’s goal, took a pass sent behind the net from senior Noah Maillette and buried the chance under the crossbar.
Sayen then gave Houghton a 3-2 lead with 11:16 remaining, charging the net and jamming the puck past the pads of the St. Mary’s goalie.
Just 1:23 later, Houghton took a 4-2 lead when senior Connor Arko took a neat pass from Maillette, skated in on the St. Mary’s goal and lifted a backhand below the cross bar.
Houghton kept the pressure on and added to its lead, going up 5-2 with 3:33 remaining when Sayen pounced on a rebound and fired the puck in.
From there, the final minutes were a happy skate for Houghton.
St. Mary’s was attempting to repeat as champion, but had to settle for a runner-up finish and a 25-5 record to close the season.
“We just got a little lax down low in front of our net,” St. Mary’s head coach Brian Klanow said. “They took advantage of some not-so-good positioning and they were able to get some shots off the line.”
Houghton opened the scoring on a power play with 12:53 remaining in the first period when Sayen charged toward a loose puck in front of the St. Mary’s goal and buried the chance underneath the crossbar to make it 1-0 Gremlins.
St. Mary’s tied the game with 1:59 remaining in the second period on a goal by junior Thaddeus Raynish, who found a loose puck to the left of the Houghton goal and placed a shot into a half-open net to make it 1-1.
PHOTOS (Top) Houghton players celebrate at the end of the Division 3 Final at USA Hockey Arena. (Middle) The Gremlins’ Noah Maillette (13) moves toward a loose puck in front of the St. Mary’s net and goalie Thomas Reeber. (Photos by Adam Sheehan/Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)
Brother Rice's Rosa Relishing Final Run with High School Hockey
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
January 26, 2023
If the Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice hockey team ends up winning the Division 2 championship in March, it could be said that the journey to that title started in August with an offer he wasn't ready to accept.
That’s when senior Peter Rosa — who was coming off an all-state season last year as a junior — went to Louisiana to train for a few days with the Shreveport Mudbugs, a team in the North American Hockey League.
Rosa said at that point he was already wanting to come back to Brother Rice for his senior season, but given how he impressed the Mudbugs coaching staff during that camp, it didn’t stop Shreveport coaches from trying to change Rosa’s mind after they informed him he had a roster spot if he wanted it.
“They wanted me there,” Rosa said. “They said, ‘Are you sure you don’t want to come develop here?’"
But Rosa stuck with his original intentions, saying thanks, but no thanks, so he could play one final year of high school hockey.
As a result, Rosa is already going down in the history books as one of the best to ever play for a storied Brother Rice program.
Following Tuesday’s win against Warren De La Salle Collegiate, Rosa has 22 goals and 25 assists in 17 games for the Warriors this winter.
He is No. 2 on the school’s all-time points list with 116, although he likely won’t be able to catch leader Mackenzie MacEachern, who had 154 points during his time at Brother Rice.
However, odds are good that Rosa will be able to overtake MacEachern’s record of 65 goals scored in a career, since Rosa currently is at 59.
Rosa is a versatile 5-foot-10, 175-pound offensive stalwart who can play center and both wing positions.
When Brother Rice lost to Trenton in a Division 2 Semifinal last year, Brother Rice head coach Kenny Chaput said odds were good at the time that it would be the last time he would coach Rosa.
“I was fully planning on that being his final game with us,” he said.
Rosa went to Shreveport following the season to practice and meet the team in what was his first encounter with the Mudbugs before going back in August.
But throughout the summer, Chaput, through conversations with Peter’s dad and Brother Rice assistant coach Todd Rosa, had an inkling that Peter preferred to play at Brother Rice for his senior year.
Once the official word came from Peter at the beginning of the school year that he was coming back, there was a challenge for Chaput.
Given Rosa was good enough to play at junior level, it was tempting for coaches to feel they didn’t have anything left to teach Rosa in high school.
“I had to make sure I went above to push him so he doesn’t get stale with things,” Chaput said. “It’s still a challenge because he gets things done that a lot of other kids don’t. But there’s tweaks in his game that he still needs to do, so we’ll continue to push him the best we can. Obviously, we didn’t want him to have a year where he didn’t get pushed and he didn’t progress.”
With Rosa in the fold, Brother Rice is an obvious contender to win its second Division 2 title in three years.
“I don’t think there’s anything like playing for your school and for your classmates,” said Rosa, who said he’s not sure yet if he’ll play in Shreveport or for another junior team after he finishes high school. “Having the benefit of hanging out with kids in school all day, and then coming to practice with them and playing with them, I’ve built relationships with many kids on the team that I wouldn’t trade anything for. I’ve had a great experience.”
Even worse for opponents is that after the loss to Trenton in that Semifinal, Rosa is motivated for redemption.
“That’ll leave a pretty bad taste in your mouth,” Rosa said. “I just felt like I had some unfinished business.”
If that business ends up being finished, opponents will sure wish those Shreveport coaches could’ve changed Rosa’s mind in August.
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) Brother Rice's Peter Rosa gains steam on a rush during last season's Division 2 Semifinal against Trenton at USA Hockey Arena. (Middle) Rosa raises his stick in celebration after scoring Rice's first goal in the eventual 4-2 loss.