2015-16 hockey coverage

Check back often to see what high school hockey games we've covered on MIPrepZone. Links to all of our coverage can be found below (previews, game stories, photo galleries). Just click on the scores.

2015-16 Oakland County Hockey Preview
2014-15 All-County Hockey Team

GAME COVERAGE
Country Day 7, Riverview 4
Stoney Creek 5, Farmington 3
Brother Rice 5, Trenton 1
Catholic Central 5, Cranbrook 0
Bloomfield Hills 2, Marysville 1
Royal Oak 10, Notre Dame Prep 3
St. Mary's 2, Brother Rice 1
Catholic Central 2, Trenton 0
West Bloomfield 6, Oxford-Avondale 2
Notre Dame Prep 7, Bishop Foley 1
Troy 3, Bloomfield Hills 2 (OT)
Rochester United 7, Lake Orion 0
Cranbrook 4, U-D Jesuit 3 (OT)
Hartland 5, Walled Lake Central 2
Berkley 6, Lake Orion 2
Allen Park Cabrini 4, Notre Dame Prep 3
Lakeland 5, Walled Lake Northern 0
Brother Rice 3, Catholic Central 0
Bishop Foley 8, Grand Rapids Flames 0
Bloomfield Hills 6, West Bloomfield 4
Stoney Creek 5, Rochester United 3
Hudsonville 4, Bishop Foley 1
Berkley 9, Clarkston 2
Cranbrook 3, Plymouth 2 (OT)
Country Day 4, Lake Orion 2
Bloomfield Hills 4, Shrine 2
Notre Dame Prep 5, New Boston Huron 3
Royal Oak 9, West Bloomfield 3
Farmington 6, Berkley 3
Walled Lake Central 6, Walled Lake Western 0
Shrine 9, Bishop Foley 1
Notre Dame Prep 2, Cabrini 1
Berkley 5, Rochester United 2
Walled Lake Central 4, Walled Lake Northern 1
Lakeland 9, Milford 1
Birmingham Unified 3, Oxford-Avondale 0
Utica 8, Bishop Foley 3
Notre Dame Prep 4, Shrine 3
U-D Jesuit 2, Detroit Catholic Central 1
Rochester United 5, Clarkston 0
Roosevelt 6, Berkley 3
Notre Dame Prep 6, Bishop Foley 0
Lakeland 6, Waterford United 5
Farmington Hills Unified 7, West Bloomfield 0
AA Gabrield Richard 11, Bishop Foley 0
Birmingham Unified 4, West Bloomfield 3
Stoney Creek 4, Marysville 0
Rochester United 6, Eisenhower 3
Romeo 5, Rochester United 3
Eisenhower 3, Stoney Creek 1
Hartland 3, Brother Rice 1
Novi 3, Berkley 2
AA Gabriel Richard 8, Bishop Foley 0
Lakeland 5, Pinckney 2
Oxford-Avondale 3, Shrine 3
Troy 5, Royal Oak 2
Cranbrook 4, St. Mary's 3
L'Anse Creuse North 2, West Bloomfield 1
South Lyon Unified 4, Waterford United 2
Jackson United 7, Clarkston 4
Stoney Creek 6, Walled Lake Northern 0
Lake Orion 5, Farmington Hills Unified 1
Brother Rice 2, Northville 2
Country Day 7, Royal Oak 2
Walled Lake Central 5, Walled Lake Northern 0
Warren-Mott 7, Bishop Foley 1
Bloomfield Hills 10, Oxford-Avondale 2
Cabrini 6, Bishop Foley 0
Farmington 2, Berkley 1
St. Mary's 4, Brother Rice 3 (OT)
Brother Rice 6, Trenton 2
Clarkston 3, Stoney Creek 1
Royal Oak Shrine 3, Bishop Foley 1
Lake Orion 6, Grand Blanc 0
Bloomfield Hills 4, Birmingham Unified 4
Catholic Central 4, Trenton 2
Royal Oak 8, St. Clair Shores Unified 0
Carleton Airport 9, Bishop Foley 1
Bishop Foley Unified 14, Grand Rapids 2
Brighton 6, Cranbrook-Kingswood 2
Livonia Stevenson 3, Rochester United 0
Stoney Creek 2, Rochester United 1
Trenton 4, Cranbrook-Kingswood 3
Utica 5, Bishop Foley 3
Romeo 3, Stoney Creek 1
Farmington 3, Novi 1
South Lyon Unified 6, Farmington Hills Unified 0
Warren-Mott 6, Bishop Foley 1
Troy United 5, Stoney Creek 2
Troy United 9, Woodhaven 6

I'm going to keep this relatively short, in part because I just spent an hour typing up a comprehensive TENNIS ROUNDUP on MIPrepZone. Please click on the link and check it out.
Both Catholic League tournaments, the OAA White and Blue tourneys, as well as the Holly Volley Swingabout tournament all took place. Five league champions were crowned. And Clarkston and Seaholm were back at it, once again.

• Congrats to both Mercy and Marian for playing some great tennis Saturday afternoon. Each team won four flight championships at the CHSL Division 1 finals. It came right down to the end. Marian scored point No. 20 when Olivia Underwood and Sammy Bakken beat out a very tough Kelsey Nagle and Emily Nash (Sacred Heart) in the No. 1 doubles final. Then, just moments later, Mercy's Christy Snyder and Julia Shaw defeated Tatum Schwartz and Bianca Emde 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the No. 3 final to secure a share of the league title. Marian had won four straight coming in. Now Mercy has its piece of the pie.
• And how about Notre Dame Prep in the Division 2 tournament? There's always a distinct line between the two CHSL tournaments - as far as talent level goes. But Prep would've faced a much stiffer challenge had it been in the D1 tournament. Still, it came and dominated the league.
• North Farmington's doubles teams were dominant at Saturday's OAA White tournament, but it was a gutsy performance by freshman Arti Vaishnav in the No. 1 singles consolation final that proved to be the difference. Vaishnav defeated Groves' Mikayla Kazdan in three sets - for the second time in less than a week - to secure the outright league title. In the end, North finished with 44 points. Groves ... 43.
• While we're on the White, Harrison proved its a team that could cause some problems come regional tournament time this week. Carmen Gaddis won the No. 1 singles league title, as did teammate Cheryl Carter at No. 3. As a team, the Hawks probably won't make many waves this week over at North Farmington at the Division 2 regional. But Gaddis and Carter might make life difficult for perhaps a third team to qualify out (by points) of the regional. Just saying!
• Farmington swept through the doubles at the OAA Blue tournament, helping it maintain its perfection in the league this season. Same could be said for senior Lauren Hughes, who won her fourth straight league championship at No. 1 singles for Southfield. Congrats to all.
• And finally, how appropriate that Clarkston and Seaholm both finished with 20 points at Holly's Swingabout tournament. Clarkston beat Seaholm 5-4 in the dual earlier this year and edged out the Maples by a point at Thursday's OAA Red Tournament. By my estimation, they are the teams to beat at the Divisions 1 and 2 state tournaments. Great showing by both Saturday. The Wolves and Maples each won three flight championships in a field full of great competition. Holly has put together a few tremendous tournaments this season.
• Speaking of the Bronchos, congratulations to coaches Will Sophiea and Brennan Brown, whose team captured the school's 31st straight Flint Metro League title last week - in the first of all the league tournaments played. That's an impressive streak, to say the VERY least.

State rankings ... what's next?
A new batch of state rankings should come out later today (Monday). I'll post them as soon as I can. It'll be interesting what the D1 coaches do at the top. Clarkston had been No. 1, but slid to No. 2 last week, as Port Huron Northern jumped ahead of them. Yes, the same team that the Wolves have beaten on three separate occasions this season. Mercy was ranked No. 4 in Division 1, Troy No. 9 and West Bloomfield tied for 10th.
Marian and Seaholm held down the 1-2 spots in Division 2. I see both maintaining those positions today - with a regional rematch coming up later this week. And another at the state tourney 2 1/2 weeks from now.
Cranbrook stayed atop Division 3, as did Sacred Heart in Division 4. The Cranes are clearly the best overall team in the state, and Sacred Heart is without a doubt the best team in its division, capable of winning a second-straight state title.

Thanks to all
Finally, I want to thank everyone who made it possible for me to put together stories on the Flint Metro League, Catholic League D1 and OAA Red tournaments last week, as well as all the information sent in for the OAA White and Blue, and Catholic League D2 tournament - as well as the Holly Volley Swingabout tournament on Saturday. I was excited that all of you made a great effort to get me the results. They all appeared in Sunday's Oakland Press and of course on MIPrepZone.
Check out our TENNIS HOME PAGE for all our tennis coverage. Without you helping me, it would not be possible.

I know it's early, but so far, Catholic Central and Cranbrook look to be in peak condition in these playoffs. They're playing well, and that did not start this past Monday. The two have been tearing things up for the past few weeks.
Since falling to Division 2 #1 Livonia Stevenson (1-0) to begin the month, Catholic Central is 6-1, having outscored its opponents 33-8. And those opponents included the likes of Grosse Pointe North, Notre Dame Academy (WI), Upper Canada College, Hills Academy (Toronto) and Liggett.
I picked the Shamrocks to fall to Brother Rice - its opponent Saturday night. I'll stick to my pick, but CC has me wondering now. Having been bounced from the playoffs early the past two years, the Shamrocks are hungry.
And in Division 3, the same could be said for Cranbrook, which hasn't won a state title since 2010. I was out at Wallace Arena on Tuesday doing a video feature and looked up in the rafters at the 15 state championship banners. I was talking to some of the players. After losing to Marysville 2-1 in overtime in last year's regional final, they're focused to not let that happen again this Saturday.
And it won't.

• Troy beat Athens Wednesday night. Big win over its biggest rival. Now it's set to play its toughest opponent of the year Saturday. The Colts await the winner of Thursday's Grosse Pointe North-U-D Jesuit game. I'm hoping the team is feeling good about itself, and knows how to use the home ice to its advantage. Because whoever it faces - be it the Norsemen or the Cubs - it's going to have its hands full.
• Stoney Creek is in a similar boat. The Cougars are facing a stiff challenge in Grosse Pointe South. They've been playing some pretty good hockey of late. And they'll need to keep it up against the Blue Devils, a state semifinalist last year. For anyone wanting to catch an early regional final, that game will be played Saturday at 4:15 at Great Lakes Sports City in Fraser.
• Coming off an emotional win over Clarkston on Tuesday, I'm wondering if there will be a letdown by Lake Orion Thursday night against Grand Blanc. Not to say Grand Blanc is a slouch. It's won 15 games this year. But Tuesday's win was one of the few highlights the Dragons have had this season. I'm sure they'd love to keep things going. But Thursday's pre-regional final should be a good one.
• I've seen some upsets in the state tournament over the past could years. And I think it's safe to say that if Milford somehow finds a way past Hartland Thursday night, it would fall into that category. The Eagles beat the Mavericks 6-2 back in December. A lot of time has passed since that game, but it doesn't seem like Hartland has lost a step.
• Evidently Monday's five-overtime thriller didn't take too much out of Walled Lake Northern. The Knights put a whooping on Walled Lake Western Wednesday night, 7-2. I wish I knew more detail than that, but we didn't get a call tonight.
• Royal Oak and West Bloomfield both picked up wins Wednesday night, the Ravens need OT to bump off Warren-Mott. That leaves the OAA White foes left to battle it out for a regional title Saturday at the DSC. The two teams split their regular-season series. The Ravens won, 5-4, back in December. The Lakers beat Royal Oak, 6-1, just two weeks ago. J.J. Bloom scored twice and assisted on two others in that game. WB peppered Royal Oak goalie Max Benoit with 51 shots in that game. Which Raven team will show up Saturday?
• And finally, I will be heading out to Farmington Hills Thursday night to see Country Day take on Farmington. Should be a good one. When I typed up my predictions, I based this one on how hot the Falcons were playing (8-1 in their last nine). But coming off a 7-2 win over Shrine on Tuesday, DCD is looking awfully good.