Thumb Schools Form Hockey 'Legion'
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
December 12, 2018
Larry Camp is happy to be focusing on hockey.
The coach of the first-year Eastern Thumb Area Legion hockey program – also known simply as Ubly – had been working since February, navigating the politics of school boards and paperwork to create an opportunity for athletes in the Thumb to play high school hockey.
“Come about October, all I kept telling my other assistant coaches was, ‘I just can’t wait to get on the ice,’” Camp said. “Everybody was like, ‘How’s your team? What’s it going to be like?’ I kept saying that I won’t know until our first game. When that first game came, it was a huge relief.”
Student-athletes from seven schools which make a 151-mile circle in Huron and Sanilac counties have come together to form the team, which is competing without a conference but in Division 2 for the MHSAA Tournament.
Sandusky, Elkton-Pigeon-Bay Port Laker, Bad Axe, Deckerville, Croswell-Lexington and Marlette join Ubly as schools providing players for the team. The Legion plays its home games out of Colleen J. Howe Arena in Sandusky and also holds practices at the Huron County Expo Center in Bad Axe to try and cut down on the constant travel some of its players would have to endure.
“I grabbed a map and looked at where we thought we could pull kids from – where would be the seven best school districts that we could fit,” Camp said. “What we looked at was where the two ice arenas are, and we tried to make a straight line up and down. When word got out, we had five or six other schools call us that wanted to get (involved). They really wanted to join, but we already had our seven.”
Twenty-seven players came to the first tryout, and Camp said he’s carrying a roster of 23. The numbers surprised him, but the desire to play high school hockey was high for kids who had spent time in the Huron and Sanilac county hockey associations.
“I was going to stop playing hockey this year because of the drive (to Bay City) – it was an hour and a half to practice,” Legion captain and Sandusky senior Jarod Coon said. “Now, it’s where I go to school. I love hockey, so it’s real nice to keep going.”
Coon, who plays center, has been playing hockey for more than a decade, joining teams in Port Huron, Mount Clemens and Bay City after starting his career in Sanilac County. His story isn’t uncommon on this team.
Marlette senior goaltender Chad Bower, also a captain, had been playing hockey since he was 5 years old and doing so without ever having the prospect of playing for his high school.
“I played travel my seventh and eighth grade year, then the next year my team dismantled,” he said. “Some of the boys went to (Saginaw) Heritage, Davison, stuff like that. That next year, I had to come back and play football. I was actually really excited (to play high school hockey), but then at the same time kind of mad, because it was already my senior year.”
Collecting excited and experienced hockey players wasn’t an issue for Camp. But even after petitioning school boards, attending meetings and getting the approval from the MHSAA in July, he still had to create a schedule for his team – which can be difficult for an independent and a newcomer. Through some more hard work, he was able to get to a full 26 games.
“I didn’t know any athletic directors, didn’t know their contact information,” he said. “I went to the MHSAA website and looked up names and numbers. The coach from Port Huron Northern (Daryel McCarrel) helped me a lot. The guys from the Imlay City team, the Alliance, those guys gave me a lot of contact info. I must have sent 150 emails, and I could barely get my number of games.”
The schedule mostly features teams from the region, such as Lapeer, Bay City and Port Huron. But there was a trip to Dearborn already, and Mount Pleasant will make its way to Sandusky later in the season. The Legion also played a pair of games against Tawas, the state’s other new hockey program this season. Tawas won the first meeting, 3-2, and the teams played to a scoreless tie in their second meeting.
“That was pretty cool with it being our first season and their first season,” Bower said. “We did like a first-year gift exchange, stuff like that. It was really cool to be a part of that.”
The Legion has started 2-3-1, and players are working not only to get used to coach Camp’s systems and the pace of the high school game, but also to each other.
“We just try to be friendly to each other, pretty much,” Coon said. “We haven’t done too much outside of practice, but we’re looking at going to the playoffs with the college teams at Little Caesars (Arena), just for some team bonding. I kind of thought it would be (weird playing with kids from rival schools), but it’s not really. Some of the people, I either don’t know them from other sports, or they’re just really good guys, and I like them anyways.”
When it comes to setting goals for the season, players are keeping things realistic. Bower said that while a deep run in the Division 2 playoffs would be great, he’s first focusing on the team finishing above .500.
Of course, as the first year of the program, it’s also about much more than this year.
“I’m interested to see what it turns into if it keeps going, which I really hope it will,” Coon said. “To see what it turns into in 15 years, then I can come back and say, ‘I was the first captain on that team.’ Right now, we’re looking to set up a good name for ourselves, so a lot of kids that didn’t try out this year or maybe didn’t know about the team will know about it and are excited to try out for next year. I guess we’re just trying to get a good reputation. And win some games.”
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) Legion goalie Chad Bower, left, meets with this counterpart from Tawas during their first of two games against each other this season. (Middle) An Eastern Thumb Area player launches a shot against Port Huron. (Photos courtesy of the Eastern Thumb Area hockey program.)
East Kentwood Run Part of Memorable Start on Knuble's Way to NHL, Olympics
By
Dean Holzwarth
Special for MHSAA.com
July 24, 2024
KENTWOOD – It’s been more than 30 years since the 1990 Class A championship hockey game was played in Flint.
However, Mike Knuble still recalls vividly a key moment that helped East Kentwood upset favored Trenton.
“One of our players scored on a fluky bounce with about seven or eight minutes left,” said Knuble, who recorded a hat trick in the 5-4 victory. “(Trenton) threw everything at us after that, and somehow we held them off and they weren’t able to score. Our goalie had a heck of a game, and it happened to be our night.”
The state title was the program’s first. It also marked the final game of a remarkable high school career for Knuble, who would eventually go on to have a lengthy career in the NHL.
The Falcons had lost in the 1989 Semifinals to Flint Powers Catholic, which helped fuel their run to the championship game the following season.
“We felt we should be there as a team,” said the 52-year-old Knuble, who tallied an eye-popping 103 points (63 goals/40 assists) his senior year.
“We got by Flint Powers, and the question was if we could win the final game. Trenton had a nice program for a number of years, and a lot of history. We wanted to keep it close and then hang on.”
The emergence of the East Kentwood hockey program, guided by legendary coach Ron Baum, was a community initiative.
“We had a real grassroots effort in the 80s to get a youth program started, and that filtered to the high school,” said Knuble. “We built the rink by hand, and I remember hauling hoses into the building for the sand flooring. It was a unique time in Kentwood with the amount of focus on the program and buy-in from the community.
“It was a real nice high school to play for in the late 80s and early 90s, and we always had competitive teams and nice players. We played a lot of hockey when we were younger.”
In 1991, Knuble was drafted by the Detroit Red Wings in the fourth round, 76th overall, and played the next four seasons at University of Michigan.
He earned Central Collegiate Hockey Association second-team honors twice and was named an NCAA West All-American in 1995.
“I was pretty raw so I had to develop my skills as a player, and someone in the Red Wings organization identified some potential in me,” Knuble said. “It’s one thing to be drafted and another thing to sign a pro contract, so the good thing was Michigan gave me a longer runway to develop as a player on and off the ice. It gave me extra time to get my game in order in the right environment under a great coach.”
Knuble made his NHL debut on March 26,1997, against the Colorado Avalanche. He played nine games, but not during the playoffs as the Red Wings went on to win their first Stanley Cup championship since 1955.
Knuble made the roster the following year and was a part of Detroit’s 1998 team that won the Stanley Cup for the second straight season.
“I didn't have a huge hand in it; the players that were there really drove that bus, and we were younger guys,” Knuble said. “We had a lot of fun and enjoyed ourselves, but at the end of the day you know who really won things and it was a great experience as a young player.
“You learn what it takes to be a pro, you watch how guys operate and how a winning team works. Everyone accepted their roles.”
Knuble, who resides in the Grand Rapids area, would ultimately play 16 seasons in the NHL with Detroit, the New York Rangers, Boston Bruins and Philadelphia Flyers.
He played in 1,068 games and scored 278 goals along with 270 assists.
“As a player you go through cycles,” Knuble said. “Your first step is to get a foothold in the league and try to get in the league, and the second one is to stay there.
“And the third one is to be an everyday guy, and then fourth is to sign repeat contracts and play for as long as you can. And then you become one of the old guys. When I was younger I saw players who had their kids in the room, and I said that I wanted to play as long as that guy. I wanted to do that, and it means you've played for a long time.”
Knuble also was a member of the 2006 U.S. Olympic Team and won four world championships with Team USA.
“It’s a year-to-year, day-to-day business in pro sports, and it can go south at any time, but I got a lot out of it and had some great experiences,” Knuble said. ”I played in a lot of great cities, met a lot of great people and played a ton of games. It was a really good run, and we had kids and they were old enough to remember stuff and experience that, too.
“I played until I was 40, and if you are going to play until you're 40, you really don't have a lot to complain about.”
Knuble had been an assistant coach with the Grand Rapids Griffins for several years, but stepped away in order to spend time with his three children. He watches his two sons play collegiate hockey while also assisting a local youth hockey program.
Cam is in his fifth year at Western Michigan University, and Cole is beginning his second season at Notre Dame. Anna is a student at Michigan State University.
“I had two kids playing college and a daughter in the middle of college, so I learned to like my flexibility,” Knuble said. “I took last year off and now help with the Fox Motors program that has 15 and 16-year-olds. I’m staying in the game, just trying to help young players find their way and make decisions whether to play juniors or high school.”
After Knuble played his final season with the Flyers in 2012-13, he had the opportunity to coach both of his sons.
“That was really important to me,” he said. “I had many opportunities to work full time, but I wanted to be around to coach my sons and do the driving and take them places. To see where they could be as players. I played long enough where I could make a decision like that and take that route.”
Knuble is enjoying ‘the college life’ as he travels around supporting his children.
“We are seeing a lot of college campuses with tailgating and hockey games, and it’s been a lot of fun,” Knuble said. “Both have great hockey environments, and both are lucky to play in different types of programs. We’ve been very fortunate to have them play and go down to see them.
“That’s why I didn’t want to get locked into something fulltime where you wish you were watching them play versus what you’re doing.”
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PHOTOS At left, East Kentwood’s Mike Knuble as a high school senior in 1990, and at right with his family. (Photos provided by Mike Knuble.)