Jackson Area Efforts Net New Officials
February 16, 2016
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Recruitment of new high school officials to eventually take the reins from those currently conducting MHSAA events is a challenge faced all over Michigan.
The Jackson Area Officials Association is working to restock its ranks by recruiting directly from local schools and developing them with help from veteran mentors.
Eight new officials – ages 15 to 24 – who worked a series of youth and middle school games together earlier this month, are among those who have been introduced through a program that begins with a meeting at the end of the high school basketball season between JAOA official Bill Walker and local athletic directors, coaches, fellow officials and other young adults he’s made contact with over the course of a season. From that meeting, Walker builds a list of potential candidates to become officials and then invites them to the annual JAOA Legacy Camp in June.
The camp includes two days of scrimmages between local teams, plus classroom and mechanics teaching. Similar to the MHSAA Legacy program, new officials are paired with veterans, and clinicians evaluate their work during scrimmage play. Walker then keeps in touch with the new officials during the rest of the summer, plugging them in for local youth tournaments and scrimmages, and uses as many as possible while assigning officials for youth tournaments over the winter.
All eight officials who worked the event this month are part of the JAOA legacy partnering, and some of the group already are working games at the junior varsity level – with one, a 19-year-old, recently completing his first varsity game. They come from a variety of Jackson-area schools – Parma Western, Napoleon, Jackson Christian, Michigan Center, Concord and East Jackson. Walker said the recruiting effort has a 60 percent success rate so far. (This June’s legacy camp will be the third.)
“By next season, all (eight) will be official MHSAA registered officials,” he said, noting most currently are registered. “It’s great to have these schools support this program. We all benefit from added, good officiating.”
Passing it forward
Our Battle of the Fans trip to Charlotte on Friday included a conversation about a Feb. 2 game between the Orioles and Mason, which has a pair of athletes fighting cancer. The Charlotte student section dressed in blue that night in support of junior Storm Miller, and during halftime passed buckets to raise money for Miller’s GoFundMe account set up to help pay for his care.
Mason, in turn, provided support Friday to an Owosso alum, 2012 graduate Cody Greger, who remains hospitalized at University of Michigan’s hospital with injuries sustained during a house fire in November. Fans and students collected donations to assist Greger’s family with his care.
“This event was yet another example of the values that school sports teach young people,” Owosso athletic director Dallas Lintner wrote on the school’s website. “And it stands as a testament of the integrity of the young adults that represent our schools and the (Capital Area Activities Conference.)."
100 years of hoops
A decade before the formation of the Michigan High School Athletic Association, Eastern Michigan University – then known as Michigan State Normal College – hosted what is believed to be the first organized high school basketball tournament in state history.
EMU will celebrate this anniversary Saturday in conjunction with the Eagles men’s basketball game against Toledo. Game time is noon at EMU’s Convocation Center, and during a break in play the athletic department will recognize the 12 schools that took part in that 1916 tournament – Marine City, Dundee, Milan, Mancelona, Farmington, Elkton, Royal Oak, Middleville, Lansing, Mount Clemens, Wayne and Saline.
More history, courtesy of EMU:
The game of basketball was developed by James Naismith in 1891 at Springfield College in Massachusetts. As a means of promoting the game throughout the country, physical education professor and EMU's first athletic director Wilber Bowen asked his good friend Naismith to bring the game to the Michigan State Normal College (now known as Eastern Michigan University).
The first basketball game west of the Allegheny Mountains was played at Michigan Normal in 1894 to recognize the new physical education program and to dedicate the new gymnasium on campus.
Then in 1916, Bowen, along with instructors Elmer Mitchell and Lloyd Olds (who was also credited with the introduction of the striped referee jersey), organized the first high school basketball tournament in Michigan. A total of 300 invitations were sent out to all Class B schools in the state. Twelve schools responded, and the first high school boys tournament was held on the Ypsilanti-based campus on March 23-25, 1916.
Entrance to the tournament was free and (the event was) played at the Michigan State Normal School Gymnasium. However, expenses related to transportation, room, and board had to be provided by the participating schools. The MSNC's Physical Education Department made it easier for schools to participate by making arrangements with local residents to provide food at 20 to 25 cents a meal and lodging at 25 cents a night for each player.
That first tournament saw Marine City defeat Dundee in the championship game, 23-22.
The winning team was awarded a silver shield mounted on an oak base. Second prize was a silver cup, and the third place team received a banner. Individual participation awards to all players were also provided. The Ypsilanti Press at the time felt the Normal School "went first class with the awards."
For tickets to Saturday’s game and event, which will be followed by the EMU women’s team taking on Northern Illinois, call the EMU Ticket Office at (734) 487-2282 or visit EMUEagles.com/tickets.
Following up
• Second Half’s Chip Mundy this fall wrote a story on the emergence of Ida’s football team on the way to making the Division 5 Semifinals and finishing its best season ever. A theme of that story was Ida’s philosophy of building “brick by brick,” coined by defensive line coach Gary Deland, who himself was building back after emergency triple-bypass heart surgery.
“From that very first practice in the summer to the last game as a senior, everything is built brick by brick,” Deland said for that story. “I can draw a correlation between that and my recovery, what I’ve gone through. It’s the same thing. It’s brick by brick.”
Kim Farver sent along this photo of Deland holding up a brick after the team’s 43-20 Regional Final win over Buchanan.
• We released the last batch of this year’s MHSAA-Farm Bureau Insurance Scholar-Athlete Award winners today, and one of the highlights during the 27 years of the contest came two years ago when we caught up with some of our winners from the first 25 years – including Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood’s Abby Cohen, who has gone on to co-found a company and help develop a smartphone application, Wing, to help asthma patients monitor their lung function.
Here’s a look at a video describing the technology she’s helped create:
'TBF' Backstopping Bay Reps' Title Hopes as Exciting Future Takes Shape
By
Tom Spencer
Special for MHSAA.com
February 27, 2026
Tyler Boynton-Fischer knows his high school ice hockey career could end any day now.
He also knows, or at least hopes, his playing days are far from over. Many, including his coaches, believe he’ll play at the next level and just maybe in the National Hockey League.
Boynton-Fisher is the record-setting goalie for the Bay Area Reps, a hockey co-op hosted by Traverse City St. Francis that includes athletes from Charlevoix, Elk Rapids, Kalkaska, Kingsley, Lake Leelanau St. Mary, Mancelona and Suttons Bay. He’s a senior at Traverse City St. Francis, and he finds himself in a familiar position.
The Reps are in the Quarterfinal for the second time over three years with Boynton-Fisher as their starting goalie. They advanced to the Regional Finals last season with Boynton-Fischer in net and his older brother Thomas, a senior then, and Grant Lucius leading an explosive attack.
Regardless of what happens when they take on Freeland on Saturday in Gaylord, the 6-foot-2 and growing goalie should play on. He’s been dreaming of playing in the NHL as far back as he can remember – and maybe longer.
“If I can, playing in the NHL would be really cool,” Fisher-Boynton said. “I am just excited to see what I can do and see what level I can play at.”
The dream could have begun as an infant when he was literally placed in the Stanley Cup as it visited Traverse City in 2008. From a photo, it almost looks like he was dreaming about making a kick save.
And while scientists continue to debate exactly when children start dreaming, Boynton-Fisher’s started in or before he was in first grade. His first-grade teacher, Kim Tumey, and his mother, Alysia Boynton-Fischer, recall having a follow-up discussion on a lesson at Willow Hill Elementary School in Traverse City.
Fisher-Boynton declared to his entire classroom he was going to play in the National Hockey League. Tumey, now retired, said the declaration was in response to how the students thought they could make money when they’re older. Tumey recalled further questioning Boynton-Fisher, and he said his mom would provide financially for him if he didn’t.
Boynton-Fisher is already making arrangements to play juniors – competitive amateur level for players aged 16–21 (but primarily 18–19) designed to develop skills for college and or professional hockey. His older brother Thomas went on to play for the juniors team in Saskatchewan after setting the Reps’ single-season assists record at 38 and finishing his high school career high on the Reps’ all-time career assists and scoring lists.
Their cousin, Dyson Drake, is playing juniors right now in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League. Drake is the son Dallas Drake, a member of the 2008 Stanley Cup-winning Detroit Red Wings. Fisher-Boynton often gets ice time with his uncle and cousin.
The former Red Wing was the first to hoist the cup on the ice, and he brought it to his Traverse City residence late that summer. He believes Boynton-Fischer has what it takes to play at the next level. The family and doctors believe the senior is still growing, giving him even more puck stopping capabilities.
“Tyler’s very athletic, and he's had a great high school career,” Dallas Drake said. “I know he wants to move on. I'm looking forward to see what he does.”
Drake is quick to point out Boynton-Fisher and his entire family has had to overcome challenges to get to today.
“We had a big loss in the family with his dad passing away,” Drake acknowledged. “He's gone through a lot in the last four or five years, and he's obviously adjusted very well, and he's a great kid. He works hard.”
Boynton-Fisher’s father Toby died unexpectedly before he started high school, causing him to step away from hockey briefly. He returned to the game with his brother knowing their father would want it that way.
“Everything was perfect – I was playing hockey, having so much fun. … We were in the summertime, and then he passed away,” Boynton-Fisher recalled. “It’s pretty traumatic when you realize you're not going to have a dad.”
Keeping the brothers playing hockey, and his sister Izzy in travel volleyball, has been a priority and a challenge for his mother.
“My number one goal after Toby passed away was to make sure that the trajectory of the kids’ sports wouldn’t change – Toby would hate that more than anything,” Alysia Fisher-Boynton said. “I could have never done that without all the help and love we received from all of our sports families.”
The loss led to Boynton-Fisher’s life motto.
“Through some rough things you can still have fun and live life to the fullest,” he explained. “(Dad) was a good guy, always was having fun joking around. If he wanted us to be happy, why would we just grieve him all the time when you can laugh instead of crying?”
Boynton-Fisher – who earned Division 3 all-state honorable mention last season – is known as “TBF” by many. He’s taken the nickname in honor of his father’s initials. Toby was the owner and operator of the Traverse City Golf Center. He also was known for his sense of humor.
Today, TBF’s coaches describe him as a pretty loose, easy-going kid loved by his teammates. They are quick to add he has prototypical goalie build features – long arms and legs – with incredible hand-eye coordination.
Competitiveness is his major strength, along with his demeanor and character. His coaches believe he’s the best Division 3 goalie in Michigan. Continuing the Reps’ run will bring Boynton-Fisher much deserved recognition, they say.
“His best quality is just his competitiveness, and he's very athletic too,” pointed out Reps coach Mike Matteucci, who also played in the NHL and was on the 1994 NCAA national champion Lake Superior State hockey team. “He loves the heat of the moment. He's just a very fiery, competitive person who wants to win.”
Matteucci grew up in the same area of British Columba as Drake and played against Drake as well. He too believes TBF can play professional hockey someday.
“It takes being in a situation where everybody's doing well and you get noticed,” he said. “He's durable, and I think he does have a good opportunity to continue to play with the attitude that he has and not getting too rattled in that spot.”
Fisher-Boynton leads Division 3 goalies in most stat categories. He’s top in goals-against average at 1.22, save percentage at .929, and shoutouts with six. He’s the Reps career shutout record-holder and the winningest goalie in the co-op’s history.
He’d like to add a Finals championship too.
TBF is a captain, rare for a goalie in Reps history. He owns the program record for most wins for a career, now at 38, the career shutout record of 12 and the single-season shutout records of five.
Really, the only program record he doesn’t own is for wins in a season. He had 16 his sophomore year, which is second all-time.
Boynton-Fischer and his older brother Thomas were both selected as Rookie of the Year by the Reps’ coaching staff after their respective first years in the program, and their names are stacked on the plaque.
Longtime assistant coach and former Reps head coach Ryan Fedorinchik recalls vividly the first time TBF was exposed to high school hockey. His new teammates, led by Thomas, gave him a quick orientation during a summertime skate.
They pretty much scored at will that day, but never again. It didn’t take long for Fedorinchik to believe the Reps had a top-notch goalie.
“I didn't know to what level Tyler's competitive nature was, and once the season started, it became immediately apparent that he was not only incredibly athletic, but extremely competitive,” Fedorinchik said. Fast forward to the end of the season and we go to the final four, and Tyler had a great year.”
Matteucci is hoping the Reps continue to improve with their record-setting goalie. Marquette, Houghton, Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett, East Grand Rapids, Orchard Lake St. Mary’s and Dearborn Divine Child are the other Division 3 quarterfinalists.
“As a coaching staff we like to talk about improvement and putting us in a situation where at the end of the year we've improved, and we have a chance,” Matteucci asserted. “If we're playing like we can, we have an opportunity for sure.”
The Reps are 15-12-1 on the season, coming off a 3-1 win over Petoskey in the Regional Final. Colton Davidson, Thatcher Beaudoin and Madden Pateman all scored against Petoskey. Picking up two assists was Chase Kent, while Luke Schulte, Jake Ingersoll and Nolan Ziecina each had one helper.
Boynton-Fisher stopped 22 shots in the Regional Final.
Tom Spencer is a longtime MHSAA-registered basketball and soccer official, and former softball and baseball official, and he also has coached in the northern Lower Peninsula area. He previously has written for the Saginaw News, Bay County Sports Page and Midland Daily News. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Emmet counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Traverse Bay Reps goalie Tyler Boynton-Fischer guards his team’s net during a game this season. (Middle) Boynton-Fischer “kick-saves” in the Stanley Cup in 2008. (Below) Boynton-Fischer stands tall for the Reps, who have advanced to a Saturday Quarterfinal. (Action shot courtesy of the Traverse City Record-Eagle. Other photos are courtesy of the Boynton-Fischer family.)