Special Teams Set Powers Catholic Apart as Chargers Finish Repeat Title Run
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
March 7, 2026
PLYMOUTH — Before claiming its first MHSAA Finals title in 2023, in Division 3, Flint Powers Catholic was arguably the state’s most snakebitten ice hockey program.
Up to that point, Powers had lost all seven of its previous trips to the state championship game and hadn’t won a title despite 35 Regional championships.
Now, Finals championships are becoming a rite of March for the Chargers.
They captured their second straight and third over the last four years Saturday, repeating as Division 2 champions with a 4-1 win over Livonia Stevenson at USA Hockey Arena.
It was the second-straight Finals meeting between the teams, with Powers prevailing 3-2 in overtime in 2025.
“I think our program has changed dramatically the last five years,” Powers head coach Travis Perry said. “When I say that, it’s not about the wins and the losses. It’s about the mentality. Our mentality coming down here used to be, ‘We just hope to compete with Cranbrook, Calumet or whoever we are playing.’ Now, we know we can compete. We have players and a great coaching staff.”
The difference for Powers this time was special teams.
Perry said his power-play unit entered the title game scoring at a 37-percent clip and had been “carrying us most of the year,” so it was fitting that unit played a major role again.
Powers scored the first two goals of the game on the power play, which provided a cushion it ultimately didn’t relinquish.
On the other side, the Chargers killed off all six Stevenson power-play chances.
“Our PK was really the backbone of the team today,” Perry said. “You’re trying to stay out of the box, but sometimes it happens.”
Stevenson first-year head coach Jay Thompson said his team’s special teams had also been good throughout the year, but championship games can be a different challenge.
“In these games, things tighten up,” he said. “We just fell short a little bit.”
Powers (27-5) opened the scoring with 14.1 seconds remaining in the first period by scoring on a two-man advantage.
Sophomore Owen Perry skated from behind the goal, pounced on a loose puck and placed a shot underneath the crossbar to give Powers a 1-0 lead.
The Chargers scored on another power play in the second period, going up 2-0 with 11:12 left when senior Gavin Vorwerk pounced on a loose puck in front of the Stevenson goal and chipped a shot into the net.
Stevenson (20-10-1) got on the board with 13:45 remaining in the game on an ordinary-looking play that turned into a goal.
Senior defenseman Dawson Wells fired a shot from the point that somehow got through a horde of bodies and went into the goal to make it 2-1 Powers.
Stevenson continued to pressure and created two golden opportunities on breakaways, but Powers senior goalie Hunter Clark stopped them both to preserve the lead. Clark ended up giving up just one goal throughout the entire MHSAA Tournament.
Trying to get the equalizer, Stevenson pulled goalie Drew Allen with just over two minutes remaining and off a face-off dumped the puck into the Powers zone.
That’s where Chargers junior defenseman Ethan Haley took a gamble that paid off, firing a shot from behind his own net that cleared the zone and went all the way down perfectly into the empty net to give Powers a 3-1 lead.
Powers then made it 4-1 with 1:02 remaining in the game on a wraparound goal by senior forward Ayden Cook after Stevenson put Allen back in net.
“They played very well today and structured hockey,” Thompson said. “I thought our guys did everything they could and gave our team an opportunity to win that hockey game. It just didn’t go our way.”
Powers is filled with players who have competed and won at the travel level, but to a man they say winning championships in high school is much better.
“Seeing everyone at school, you’re always saying, ‘Hey what’s up? What do you have for your next class? What do you want to do after school?’” Powers senior forward Parker Bendall said. “You’re just with them 24/7, five days a week at minimum. It’s just great being around every guy.”
PHOTOS (Top) Flint Powers Catholic players celebrate during their Division 2 championship win Saturday at USA Hockey Arena. (Middle) Stevenson’s Tyler Breitbach (4) gets a stick on the puck in front of the Powers net and goalie Hunter Clark. (Photos by Adam Sheehan/Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)
Heritage Follows 1st Final with Fast Start
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
January 15, 2019
Members of the Saginaw Heritage hockey team said they didn’t need extra motivation this offseason.
With all but three players returning from a team that had made the program’s first MHSAA championship game, the Hawks knew if they put in the time, another special season could be in front of them.
But the schedule makers gave them something to look forward to anyway – a season-opening rematch with Brighton, the team that had defeated them in the Division 1 title game eight months prior.
“There was for sure a little revenge in the back of our minds coming into that game,” Heritage junior forward Brady Rappuhn said. “I think the Finals last year was a stepping stone for us. Even though we didn’t win, just the experience was good for us.”
Heritage won the rematch 7-1 on Nov. 17 and hasn’t looked back, starting the season 11-0 and winning every game by four goals or more. It’s a stunning beginning that includes wins against six ranked teams, including two (Brighton and Salem) top-five teams in Division 1. That dominance has elevated Heritage to No. 2 in Michigan Hockey Hub’s Division 1 rankings, and No. 3 in its Super 10 pooling the best from all three divisions.
And nobody on the team seems surprised by it.
“We only lost three players from last year’s team, and we had a couple guys come in that were real good hockey players,” Heritage coach JJ Bamberger said. “Just the returning core of players we had, we were expecting to have a pretty good run. We talked about at the beginning of the year – last year, we fell short by one game, but we didn’t want to talk about getting back to that point. We just want to work on getting better every time we’re on the ice.”
Several factors have led to Heritage’s amazing start, but the one that could benefit the Hawks most later in the season is their incredible depth. Seven players are averaging at least a point per game, led by Rappuhn who has 14 goals and 15 assists thus far. Two other players – Parker Severson and Edison Symons – have scored 10 goals. Sixteen players have scored at least one goal, and 19 have registered at least one point.
That depth extends to the crease, where starting goalie Jack Jesko has a 1.32 goals-against average and .931 save percentage over eight games. Backup Jacob Winters has played three games and allowed just one goal on 42 shots.
The most remarkable statistics, however, are in the period breakdowns. The Hawks are outscoring opponents 19-5 in the first period, 25-5 in the second and 31-1 in the third.
“That first period a team will hang with us, but we just keep going,” said Bamberger, who noted that each player on his team having a GPA of 3.0 or higher is actually the most remarkable statistic. “I’ve been coaching for 17 years, and it’s the deepest team we’ve had. Sometimes I’ve had top guys who were better, but I’ve never been able to have that many guys coming at you nonstop. If a team plays two lines against us, it’s going to be very difficult to keep up with our speed. There’s no weakness.”
The Hawks’ depth also creates a mental edge for the players.
“We can roll anybody out there, and I think any of our lines can play against anybody,” Rappuhn said. “We have confidence in everybody on our team. We have a trust in our teammates and what our coaches tell us, and that allows us to be a better team.”
It also keeps them sharp.
“If you have a bad game, you know another guy is coming for your spot,” senior defenseman and captain Joe Watson said. “It pushes us forward and gives us a little bit of competitiveness to keep our spots.”
Heritage’s rise didn’t happen overnight. The building blocks were laid nearly a decade ago through the Saginaw Jr. Spirit program, which gives youth players in the area a chance to play together against top-level competition.
“The goal was to have the best players from Saginaw, Midland and Bay City come together,” said Bamberger, who is the director of the Jr. Spirit, and added teams such as Midland Dow and Davison are also seeing the benefits of the program. “It’s one program that was kind of set up for the whole Tri-City Area.”
Much of Heritage’s nucleus played for the Jr. Spirit, many of the current Hawks winning one – or in some cases, two – state titles.
“They won back-to-back state championships, so they knew how to win,” said Watson, one of a handful of Heritage players who did not play for the Jr. Spirit. “That just kind of helped us out.”
With all this positive momentum, there could be a temptation to look ahead to another MHSAA Finals appearance. But the Hawks claim they instead are sticking to Bamberger’s advice of focusing on day-to-day improvement.
“I think our coaches have really put it in our minds that we can’t look ahead, because any team can beat us any night,” Rappuhn said. “We’re a really good team, but there are also a lot of good teams that we’re playing, so if we don’t come ready to play, any team can beat us. We try to worry about that game, and that period, and that shift. We don’t try to look ahead.”
Even when asked to reflect on what they’ve accomplished, and how it would feel to win the school’s first MHSAA title in hockey, the players stayed fairly grounded.
“It’s just been a really good experience to go through,” Watson said. “I strongly believe everyone on the team is not going to take it for granted if we do get back there. It would be pretty good to get there again, and hopefully win it.”
Paul Costanzo served as a sportswriter at The Port Huron Times Herald from 2006-15, including three years as lead sportswriter, and prior to that as sports editor at the Hillsdale Daily News from 2005-06. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Genesee, Lapeer, St. Clair, Sanilac, Huron, Tuscola, Saginaw, Bay, Arenac, Midland and Gladwin counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Saginaw Heritage players, including junior Connor Krauseneck (12), celebrate one of their many highlights this season. (Middle) Hawks senior Dane Senkowski (22) pushes the puck up ice as a Grandville player trails him. (Photos by Amy Best.)