Latest Leaders Carry Rice to D2 Title
March 11, 2017
Second Half reports
PLYMOUTH — They provided the depth for the 2015 Birmingham Brother Rice hockey team, earning MHSAA championship medals right along with the big-name seniors on that squad.
But this was their team and their moment to shine. For the four seniors who are holdovers from that team, there was a deeper sense of accomplishment after beating Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern/Eastern, 7-0, to win the MHSAA Division 2 championship Saturday at USA Hockey Arena.
It was the fourth MHSAA championship for the Warriors (25-4-1), who won titles in 1992, 2012 and 2015. Jack Clement, Alec DeLuca, Michael McInerney and Mitch Shults are the holdovers from Brother Rice’s 2015 Division 2 championship team. They join 2015 graduate Nick Rosa as the only Warriors to play for two MHSAA title winners.
Shults had 14 points, Clement 13, DeLuca 12 and McInerney nine as sophomores. They all scored at least 30 as seniors.
“It definitely feels different,” said Clement, who had a goal and an assist Saturday. “As seniors, we helped lead this team. As sophomores, we were kind of behind the scenes a little bit more. Now to lead the way for these guys is really special.”
Shults had a goal and set up two others after dishing out three assists in a 5-2 Semifinal victory over No. 2 Hartland, the team that came from behind to oust Brother Rice, 5-4, in overtime last season.
“Those seniors our sophomore year really showed us what it takes to win a state championship,” Shults said. “Coming off what happened last year, obviously we had a bad taste in our mouth. We came back with the mentality of nothing less than a state championship.”
And it was time for the 2014-15 sophomores to be the leaders in 2016-17.
“We knew after last year that all the guys would be looking toward us,” DeLuca said. “We knew what to do. We knew what it took. It was really special being seniors. It was an unbelievable feeling.”
Northern/Eastern (20-9-2) was playing in its first Final, having lost in the 2008, 2012 and 2016 Semifinals. A 5-2 loss to eventual champion Romeo in last year’s Semifinals fueled this year’s run to the championship game.
“That gave us motivation to go into the summer,” Northern/Eastern senior Wyatt Radakovitz said. “The two of us (Radakovitz and Matt Pakkala) got the whole team together. We started workouts right when summer started, getting out there at 6 a.m., hitting the weight room and everything. Everyone had that gut and passion to get back to the Finals.”
Brother Rice was ranked No. 1 across all three divisions by Michigan High School Hockey Hub, while Northern/Eastern was unranked, but the first period ended scoreless.
After dominating the shot board with a 10-4 advantage, the Warriors established control on the scoreboard with three goals during the first 5:41 of the second period.
Clement got it started 60 seconds into the period, pinching from his position on defense to backhand a shot past Brenden Bogema.
Brother Rice created some distance when Shults scored off a faceoff at 4:31 of the second and Will Duncan converted a pass from across the crease by Shults 1:10 later to make it 3-0.
“It’s contagious for them,” first-year Brother Rice head coach Kenny Chaput said. “Once they get into that mode, it’s very tough to stop them.”
Radakovitz had a chance to get Northern/Eastern back in the game while killing a penalty, but he fired wide right on a breakaway with 14:58 left in the game.
“That gets it to 3-1 and you never know what happens,” Northern/Eastern coach Tom Bissett said.
From there, the Warriors turned it into a rout with four goals in a 6:27 span.
Garrett Moore scored two goals, Jack Reinhart scored while Brother Rice was down two men and DeLuca also had a shorthanded goal.
Ryan Hoffmann made 25 saves for the shutout, the fifth in a Division 2 Final and first since 2008.
“To be honest, and no disrespect to any team we played this year, but I knew with the cast of characters we had that if we went out and played our game, we would be the best team on the ice,” Chaput said. “I had that feeling from day one, and I never lost it. I understood the talent level we had, but I also understood the competitive nature.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Brother Rice skaters surround Northern/Eastern goalie Brenden Bogema during Saturday’s Division 2 Final. (Middle) Brother Rice’s Mitch Shults (9) celebrates a goal. (Photos by Andrew Knapik Photography.)
Surprise Scorer Nets Powers' Unforgettable Championship Clincher
March 8, 2025
PLYMOUTH – Ethan Haley’s hockey season for Flint Powers Catholic could have ended in late January when he suffered a broken ankle.
“I thought I was going to miss more time than I did,” Haley said. “The doctor cleared me sooner, so it was very exciting to get back playing with everyone and going to practice every day.”
After missing only four games and a little more than two weeks, Haley rejoined the Chargers late in the regular season, putting him in a position to score one of the biggest goals in school history.
Haley’s shot from the right point 1 minute and 53 seconds into overtime gave Powers a 3-2 victory over Livonia Stevenson in the MHSAA Division 2 championship game Saturday at USA Hockey Arena.
It wasn’t a particularly hard shot, but the Chargers got traffic in front of the net, making it difficult for Stevenson’s goalie to track the puck.
“Before that, Coach said to get pucks on net, get pucks out of our zone, which we did,” Haley said. “I saw a guy on Cooky (Ayden Cook). He slid it down and passed it to me. I just shot it. I thank Parker (Bendall) for screening the goalie. He couldn’t see it.”
Haley, a sophomore defenseman, goes down in history as one of the more unlikely heroes to score an overtime winner in an MHSAA championship game.
It was his fourth goal in 22 games this season and the second in his last 19 games. He scored twice in the first three games.
“My role is definitely an energy guy, I would say,” Haley said.
The championship was the second for Powers over the last three seasons. The Chargers were perhaps the top program in Michigan not to win an MHSAA title until breaking through two years ago in their eighth appearance in a championship game.
Powers finally broke through that time when Mason Czarnecki scored on a breakaway with 4.6 seconds left in the third period, giving the Chargers a 3-2 victory over East Grand Rapids.
“It’s a lot different this time around,” Powers coach Travis Perry said. “The first time, it’d been 50 years of frustration, anger. I’d been coaching 17 years, and we lost a couple down here. That was really a monkey off our back. This one really solidifies our program. The biggest thing I told the guys is probably five years ago we came down here looking to compete, not just hoping to compete.”
The Chargers have only three holdovers from the team that was a Division 3 champion two years ago in seniors Andrew Parmentier, Brody Neelands and Andrew Burny. As sophomores, they learned how to win on a team that had 11 seniors and eight juniors.
“It feels like a dream,” Burny said. “We came here and made history twice. I wouldn’t have rather done it with any other group of guys.”
The Chargers finished with a 25-4 record and were ranked No. 1 in Division 2, but had to battle from behind in many of their games. The victory over Stevenson was their second in overtime during the playoffs, the other a 5-4 decision over Marquette in the Quarterfinals.
So, there was no panic when goals by Colin Stroble and Riley Rorabacher gave Stevenson a 2-1 lead with 12:53 left in the second period after Powers had taken an early 1-0 lead on a goal by Jack Johnson. There was no panic when Stevenson tilted the ice for most of the second, dominating puck possession.
Cook put Powers in a position to win in overtime when he tied the game with his 40th goal of the season with 6:45 remaining in regulation.
Stevenson (18-9-2) made a run to its first championship game since 2016 by winning its final five regular-season games, then four more in the playoffs. The Spartans lost four straight games prior to their winning streak, allowing 19 goals during that stretch.
Coach David Mitchell met with his four captains in early February, and they responded by leading Stevenson's late-season charge.
“We’ve all had our ups and downs, me included,” Stevenson senior forward Owen Hall said. “I just watched everyone on the team grow into the fine person they are today. I watched everyone grow on the team, even our coaching staff. It was successful, because we’ve grown so much over time. I couldn’t be more proud.”
For veteran Stevenson coach David Mitchell, it was gratifying to get the program back on the biggest stage. The Spartans made three Finals in four seasons from 2013-16, winning the 2013 Division 2 title.
“I told them they put Stevenson hockey, I don’t want to say on the map, because we’ve never really been off it,” Mitchell said. “But they got us back to the point we try to achieve to get to. I think they did that not only as players on the ice, but as a community. People like Mr. (Arnold) Muscat (Stevenson’s athletic director) and the Stevenson community not only made this an enjoyable ride, but made this a memorable one. It made it easier for us to get inspired to play for a bigger cause.”
PHOTOS (Top) Flint Powers Catholic players celebrate after clinching their championship with an overtime win Saturday. (Middle) The winning goal makes its way into the top corner of the Stevenson net 1:53 into overtime. (Below) Powers’ Ethan Haley (6) and Stevenson’s Riley Rorabacher chase a loose puck.