The field and schedule for both the MIHL and MPHSH showcases are set and ready to go. And there are a number of great matchups at both.
The Public High School Showcase will open up play on Monday, Feb. 3 at the Chelsea Arctic Coliseum. Nearly 60 teams will compete in nearly 60 games over six days, with the showcase wrapping up play Sunday afternoon. Nineteen Oakland County schools are scheduled to compete.
Some of the more intriguing local matchups - in my opinion - include:
Matchup (time/day)
Rochester United vs. Howell (7:45 p.m., Monday)
Farmington vs. Bay City (7:45 p.m., Tuesday)
Berkley Unified vs. Plymouth Salem (4:45 p.m., Wednesday)
Stoney Creek vs. Howell (6:45 p.m., Wednesday)
Farmington vs. Escanaba (2 p.m., Thursday)
Clarkston vs. Muskegon Reeths-Puffer (3:45 p.m., Thursday)
Lake Orion vs. Bay City (6 p.m., Thursday)
Novi vs. Muskegon Reeths-Puffer (2 p.m., Friday)
Berkley Unified vs. Escanaba (12:30 p.m., Saturday)
Novi vs. Lake Orion (8:15 p.m., Saturday)

Down in Trenton, at the MIHL Showcase, 42 teams will be competing in 42 games over three days at the Kennedy Ice Arena. This showcase is a little smaller than the MPHS Showcase, but the talent level is tremendous. All of the MIHL teams will be there, as will a number of the state's other best teams. Out-of-state (and out-of-country) teams such as the Hill Academy's U17 and U18 teams, the Culver Academy (Indiana) and Upper Canada College will also be testing the competitive waters in Trenton.
Some local games I'll be keeping an eye on from the Feb. 6-8 event are:
Matchup (time/day)
Country Day vs. De La Salle (5:20 p.m., Thursday)
Rochester United vs. Liggett (6 p.m., Thursday)
Hill Academy U18 vs. Catholic Central (4 p.m., Friday)
Rochester United vs. U-D Jesuit (4:20 p.m., Friday)
Upper Canada College vs. Cranbrook (6 p.m., Friday)
Culver Academy vs. St. Mary's (8:20 p.m., Friday)
Hill Academy U18 vs. St. Mary's (10:40 a.m., Saturday)
Culver Academy vs. Cranbrook (2:40 p.m., Saturday)

Cranbrook-St. Mary's - Part 2
I was fortunate enough to catch the second meeting of the season between St. Mary's and Cranbrook this past Friday night at Wallace. And it was worth the drive and price of admission, for sure. The Eaglets took advantage of some early opportunities, jumping out to a 3-1 lead. But the Cranes showed why they're the best team in the state, rallying for late goals in each of the three periods, then closing the game out just over a minute into overtime on a goal by Mason Schultz.
It was their second win over St. Mary's this season - the first a 6-3 victory back in December. Cranbrook is now 15-0 this year, with wins over ranked opponents St. Mary's (#1 D1 - twice), Catholic Central (#2 D1 - twice), Brother Rice (#5 D1), Plymouth (#9 D1), Livonia Stevenson (#1 D2), Trenton (#2 D2) and Houghton (#2 D3).
The Cranes suffered what appeared to be a potential season-ending shoulder/collarbone injury to junior forward Austin Alger. He was taken to the hospital. My sources tell me there's a chance he'll be able to return this season. Don't hold me to it, but that's great news for the team and to high school hockey. This guy is fun to watch.

On the schedule
This weekend is shaping up to be a doozy. Thursday's Stoney Creek-Clarkston game is a warmup for what will be a terrific Friday and Saturday of high school hockey in Oakland County. On Friday, Catholic Central will travel to Orchard Lake to take on St. Mary's in a matchup of the top-two teams in Division 1. The Eaglets are (11-1-1-1 overall). CC enters 9-1-0-1. As stated above the two teams' four losses are to Cranbrook. They are 20-0-1 against the rest of the state. Something has to give, right?
I will be heading out to Rochester Hills to see Lake Orion face Rochester United in a matchup of two unbeaten OAA Red teams. Pretty safe to say if Lake Orion (4-0 OAA Red) wins this game, it wins the league title. Rochester United enters 2-0 in league play. A win pulls it to within two points of the Dragons with two games in hand. Rochester still has Berkley Unified left on its schedule, so the league title will be anything but set in stone even if it does knock off Lake Orion Friday night.
And then on Saturday, St. Mary's travels down to face Catholic Central at Compuware. Lake Orion takes on Clarkston at the DSC. Farmington plays Berkley on the road. And Rochester and Stoney Creek will face off at the Onyx. We'll be covering them all for MIPrepZone.

MAC/OAA Showcase on tap
The pairings for the fifth-annual showcase (Feb. 1 at the Onyx) will be announced Wednesday. The leagues will base their matchups based on rankings, with slight alterations to avoid repeat matchups as well as potential matchups of teams that may see each other in postseason play. The only thing certain right now is that Lake Orion will face Eisenhower at 6 p.m., while Rochester will play Macomb Dakota in the premiere matchup at 8 p.m. I'll followup with more details as they are provided.

Some top performances from this past week
Sam Miletic, Cranbrook - Miletic exploded for three goals and three assists to lead the Cranes to an 8-2 win over De La Salle.
Jon Carandang, Troy Athens - Carandang scored two goals and had two assists in the Red Hawks' 8-0 win over Fraser. Brad Merola and Brandon Goodes also scored two goals each.
Sam Miletic, Cranbrook - The junior had a pair of goals and assisted on another in the Cranes' OT win over St. Mary's.
Carter Rea, Clarkston - Rea had a hat trick in the Wolves road win Friday night.
John Artemenko, Bloomfield Hills - the junior had a hat trick to help the Black Hawks dismantle the Lakers.
Ian Melrose, Berkley Unified - Scored a pair of goals and assisted on two others to lead the Bears past Stoney Creek, 4-1, Friday night. Teammate Stephen Wroe made 31 saves in goal.
Brandon Pomerleau, Lakeland - Made 32 saves to lead the Eagles past Davison, 2-1.
Brad Hofelich, Novi - Had a pair of goals to lead Wildcats to 4-0 win over Canton. Goalie Austin Petty made 18 saves to pick up the shutout.
Drew Casey, Lake Orion - Scored four goals and picked up two assists in Dragons' 9-3 win over St. Clair Shores Unified. Teammate Alex Giwa notched a hat trick himself and Ryan Szydlowski had five assists.
Jeff Merola, Troy Athens - The goalie stopped 27 shots to lead the Red Hawks past Royal Oak, 3-1

As you may have seen, the all-state hockey teams were announced earlier this week. And once again Oakland County was well represented - as it should be. At least on the first teams.
There were 18 first-team all-state kids from the county and 23 more earned second team or honorable mention honors. In all, there were 204 kids honored throughout the state.
I understand the politics of picking postseason teams. Many organizations and leagues do things in different ways. There's some give and take involved. You win, you tend to be heard. That doesn't always mean all the best players are represented.
I would have liked to have seen better county representation in Division 2. Though the county had just one quarterfinalist, West Bloomfield, it still was underrepresented. The Lakers had just one honorable mention representative (J.J. Bloom). Stoney Creek, stuck in a tough region, had just two. Heck, Romeo, which was beaten in the first round by Oxford, had four players honored. Oxford had zero.
And again, I know it's a give and take. But no Austin Alger in Division 3? Yes, the first-team all MIHL selection (which means more to most kids) is just a sophomore, but he is one of the best players in the state. To leave him off, to me, kind of diminishes the team a bit.
But hey, who am I to complain? People might criticize the way I pick my all-county team. I try to balance other postseason honors, statistics, competition and coaches' opinions to come up with my teams - which by the way will come out in a week or two.
OK, moving on. Thanks to the MIHL and OAA for forwarding on their all-league teams to me. You can find the MIHL squad here, and the OAA Red and White teams here.

Mr. Hockey and the Dream Team
The state's biggest honors will be handed out at the annual awards banquet this Sunday. Oakland County should see a couple players get the nod. And Cranbrook's Alex Alger will be in the mix for Mr. Hockey. His name is floating out there, along with Livonia Stevenson's Dominic Lutz.

Hellebuyck continues his dominance
Former Walled Lake Northern goalie Connor Hellebuyck continued his stellar play for sixth-ranked UMass-Lowell, stopping 32 of 33 shots to lead River Hawks past Providence College, 4-1, to win its first-ever Hockey East regular season championship.
Hellebuyck is on the fast track since graduating high school in 2011. After playing juniors last year, he's moved on to big-time college hockey. Drafted by the Winnipeg Jets in the fifth round of this year's NHL Entry Draft, Hellebuyck is 14-2, allowing just 1.49 goals per game. He's a big reason for his team's turnaround after a dismal 4-7-1 start.

Welcome home Scotty
Former Waterford Mott star Scott Cuthrell returned back to Lakeland Ice Arena and stole the show this past weekend for the Cleveland Jr. Lumberjacks (NA3HL), which split a pair of games with the Metro Jets. Cuthrell, a first-team all-county selection last year, picked up where he left off with the Corsairs. He scored five goals in a 9-2 Lumberjacks win Friday night. He added another goal in a 4-3 loss to the Jets on Saturday. Cuthrell has scored a goal in an incredible 21-straight games and leads the league in scoring (47 goals, 41 assists). Oh yeah, the Lumberjacks ran away with the East title.

Coaches, I need your cooperation
I'm currently looking to put together our all-county hockey team. For that, I will need information on your top players. That information includes post-season honors, statistics, etc. Please email me the information to jason.schmitt@oakpress.com as soon as possible. An email has already been sent out. Remember, if I don't hear from you, I may miss some of your best kids. Thanks!

Among all the high school sports, hockey has the longest season. It starts before the fall season ends. And it ends about the same time as most other winter sports. But in the end, there always seems to be a lot to play for at the end of the regular season.
And that's certainly the case this year.
The OAA Red champion will be determined this week. 
Regulation was not enough to determine a winner between Lake Orion and Clarkston in the final game of the league season a week ago (Lake Orion won the game in overtime, 2-1, but the official league result of the game was a 1-1 tie). Now the two have earned the right to battle it out for the league tournament championship this Saturday at the Birmingham Ice Arena (6:30 p.m.). Clarkston beat Oxford, 5-2, in one semifinal this past Saturday, while Lake Orion edged out Rochester United, 3-2, in the other.
It most likely won't be the last time the two teams see each other this year. They're on a collision course to play for a pre-regional final on March. 1

Shamrocks double their pleasure
Catholic Central beat St. Mary's at Joe Louis Arena Saturday, 5-3, to win the Catholic League Division 1 title. The team has already clinched at least a share of another MIHL championship. Charlie Green scored a pair of goals for the Shamrocks, which currently sits at 14-2-0-1 in league play this year. CC's only league losses came to Cranbrook and Trenton (twice). A win over Port Huron Northern or a Cranbrook loss to Trenton will wrap up an outright league title for the Shamrocks.

Berkley-Ferndale finishes off the White
I initially mentioned in last week's blog that Berkley-Ferndale had clinched the OAA White championship. Evidently, I forgot how to count. But coach Jeff Fleming's team did not make a liar out of me, winning two tough games against West Bloomfield, 3-2, and Avondale, 5-2, to clinch the title.
The Bears still have something to play for, though, an unbeaten league season. They're 9-0-1 - the lone blemish being a 1-1 tie with Royal Oak - with games against Bloomfield Unified, which is coming off a big, 8-3 win over West Bloomfield, and Troy Athens remaining.

Congratulations to Walled Lake Northern
The Knights surprised a few people by capturing the KLAA North championship this season. But the boys surprised hockey nation by winning the KLAA Lakes Conference championship. And although coach Claude Tunison's team fell to Brighton in the Association championship game, it has a lot to be proud of this season. Congratulations gentlemen.

All-league honors
If anyone has an official copy of your conference's all-league teams, please send them my way - jason.schmitt@oakpress.com. The Catholic League's honors can be found HERE.

Top performances from this past week
- Mackenzie MacEachern, Brother Rice: Scored a natural hat trick and totaled five points in the Warriors' 5-2 win over Divine Child. Teammate Thomas Ebbing had a goal and three assists in the win.
- Charlie Green, Catholic Central: Green scored twice in the third period as the Shamrocks won the CHSL title by defeating St. Mary's, 5-3, at Joe Louis Arena Saturday night.
- Christopher Brown, Cranbrook: Scored three goals and assisted on two others in the Cranes' 8-0 win over Grosse Ile. Sam Miletic and Alex Alger both had three points in the win.
- Cam Thomas, South Lyon Unified: Had a pair of goals, including the game-winner in overtime, as South Lyon beat Milford, 4-3.
- John Artemenko and Mark Andonian, Bloomfield Unified: Both players scored a pair of goals and assisted on another in the Chargers' 8-3 win over West Bloomfield. Teammates Kevin Barnett and Neal Krentz also had three points each for Unified.
- Brody Blair, Rochester United: No one came up bigger in United's 2-1 win over Farmington Hills Unified, as the goalie stopped 34 of 35 shots to lead his team to the win.
- Adam Pardonoff, Oxford: The Wildcats' netminder stopped 26 of 27 shots to help his team beat Farmington in the OAA Red Tournament.
- Mitchell Vanderberg, St. Mary's: Vanderberg had a pair of goals to lead the Eaglets past the Cubs.
- Chris Wilberding, Brother Rice: He had two goals to help the Warriors rally to beat Cranbrook, 4-3.
- Hayden Alpert, Berkley-Ferndale Unified: Alpert scored twice as his Bears clinched a share of the OAA White title with a 3-2 win over West Bloomfield - they later beat Avondale to clinch the title outright.
- Scott Cuthrell and Austin Sereno, Waterford Mott: Both players had a hat trick and three more assists as the Corsairs blew past Troy Athens, 8-0.
- Luke Ortell, Bishop Foley Unified: Had a hat trick and finished with five points in his team's 7-3 win over its biggest rival, Royal Oak Shrine. Teammate Austin Lukaschewski had two goals himself.
- Joe Nagle, Royal Oak Shrine: Scored twice, but it wasn't enough as his team fell to Bishop Foley.

LINKS TO GAME COVERAGE ON MIPREPZONE.COM
Plymouth 3, Lakeland 1
South Lyon 4, Milford 3 (OT)
Bloomfield Unified 8, West Bloomfield 3
Lake Orion 3, Rochester United 2
Rochester United 2, Farmington Unified 1
Oxford 5, Farmington 1
Berkley-Ferndale 3, West Bloomfield 2
Bishop Foley 7, Royal Oak Shrine 3

Talking about coming up big. Catholic Central senior Nolan Gluchowski scored the game-winning goal midway through the third period of his team's 4-3 win over Hill Academy (Toronto) Friday at the MIHL Showcase in Trenton.
It was one of the premiere matchups at this year's events. Charlie Green had a goal and two assists and Pete Halash assisted on three goals himself in the win. The Shamrocks rallied from 3-1 down, with Steven Haydon and Matt Sorisho tying the game up by the end of the second period before Gluchowski's game-winner.
Cranbrook will get its chance against Hill Academy Saturday night.
In other action at the MIHL, Farmington Unified used a pair of Jared VanValenburg goals to double up Traverse City Central, 4-2. That's a nice win for the Flyers. Central's the No. 3-ranked team in Division 2.
Country Day eked out a 5-4 win on an unassisted goal by Scott Wolf in the final minutes of its game against Saginaw Heritage. Zach Bensinger scored twice in the first period to stake the Yellowjackets to an early 3-1 lead.
Also picking up an impressive win was Cranbrook, who took care of Marquette 6-2. The Redmen are one of a handful of quality teams from the UP that made the long trip down to Trenton. Blake Manginell scored twice to lead the Cranes, who outshot Marquette 50-21. Michael Romund had four points for Cranbrook.
St. Mary's seems to have the number of Trenton and it's all-state goalie Blake Wojtala. The Eaglets beat Trenton 4-1 Friday, scoring 4+ goals on Wojtala for the second time this season. Only Cranbrook, in a 4-3 win back in November, has done it against the Trojans. Nicholas Carbone had two goals in the win.
And Brother Rice, arguably the hottest team in the state, improved its unbeaten streak to nine games with a 3-2 win over Livonia Churchill, the No. 4-ranked team in Division 1. Chris Wilberding scored the game-winner in OT.

For all of Friday's results, CLICK HERE
For all of Friday's results at the Michigan Public High School Hockey Showcase, CLICK HERE

They play late and they play on a lot of off-days (Wednesday and Saturday nights). All in all, high school hockey always seems to be under the radar as far as publicity and coverage by the local media goes. A lot of time our phones have been shut off (to gather and get the night's roundup together for the paper) by the time games end and coaches have a chance to call us with results.
I encourage coaches and or team representatives to email us those results to sports@oakpress.com. We still might be able to get it online at MIPrepZone that night or the next morning. I just want to see more hockey in the paper and especially online.

This past weekend, there was a pretty big home-and-home series in the MIHL, as first-place Catholic Central and second-place Cranbrook squared off for the first time this season. The two teams split the series, each winning on the other team's home ice. CC beat the Cranes, 4-3, in overtime Friday night at Wallace Arena. Matt Sorisho scored the game winner six minutes in off a pass from Ryan Wandzel.
On Saturday, Cranbrook bit back, taking a 2-1 victory. Cameron Heath scored the game winner midway through the second period. Aaron Alkema stopped 42 of the 43 shots he faced to get the win for the Cranes. The night before, teammate Justin Kirk made 44 saves in the OT loss. That's some great goaltending.

Top performances from this past week:
- Pete Halash, Catholic Central: Scored two goals and had an assist in the Shamrock's 7-1 win over De La Sallle
- Tyler VanNorman, Catholic Central: Scored two goals in CC's 7-1 win over De La Salle
- Trevor Kalinowski, Lakeland: Stopped 42 shots in goal to lead the Eagles to a 2-0 shutout win over Waterford Mott
- Zach Massa, Farmington: Scored a pair of goals in the Falcons' 4-1 win over Rochester United
- Jack Bergmann, Country Day: Bergmann scored twice and assisted on another in the Yellowjackets 4-2 win over Royal Oak
- Adam Larkin, Clarkston: His goal and two assists helped the Wolves to a 4-1 win over Farmington
- Sebastian Stankiewicz, Country Day: Scored a hat trick to lead his team to a dominating 8-0 win over Notre Dame Prep
- Gabe Comos, Clarkston: Comos scored a pair of goals and had an assist to lead the Wolves to a 6-3 win over Stoney Creek
- Mackenzie MacEachern, Brother Rice: The senior had a pair of goals and assists in a 5-3 win over TC Central and two more goals in a 6-0 win over TC Western the night before
- Chris Wilberding, Brother Rice: Scored two goals in his team's win over TC Central Saturday night
- Thomas Ebbing, Brother Rice: His goal and two assists helped his team top TC Central
- Cooper Anstett, St. Mary's: Had a pair of goals in Eaglets' 3-1 win over Port Huron Northern
- Austin Julvezan, St. Mary's: Stopped 27 of 28 shots in his team's win over the Huskies

Here are the updated MIHL, OAA and KLAA league standings as of Tuesday (Jan. 17)

MIHL Standings
Team                    GP    W   L  T  OL  Pts.
Catholic Central     14    12   2   0   0     24
Cranbrook              9      7    1   0   1     15
Trenton                  10     7    2   0   0     15    
St. Mary's               8      5    3   0   0     10
Brother Rice           9      5    4    0   0    10
PH Northern          10     4   5    0    0     9
GP North                8      3   5    0    0     6
Wyandotte              9      2   6    0    1     5
De La Salle             9      2   7    0    0     4
U-D Jesuit               8      0   8    0    0     0

OAA Red
Team                      W  L  T  Pts.
Lake Orion              5  0   1   11
Clarkston                 4  0   1    9
Farmington               3  3   0    6
Farmington U.          2  2   1    5
Birmingham U.         1  2   2    4
Oxford                     1  1  1    3
Rochester U.            1  3  0    2
Stoney Creek           0  6  0   0

OAA White
Team                      W  L  T  Pts.
Berkley-Ferndale     6   0   0   12
Avondale                 4   3   0    8
West Bloomfield      4   3   0    8
Royal Oak               3   3   0   6
Bloom. Hills United  3   3   0   6
Troy                         2   5   0   4
Troy Athens             0   5   0   0

KLAA Central
Team                      W  L  T  Pts.
Brighton                   6   1   1   13
Livonia Stevenson    5   2   0   11
Novi                        3   3   1    7
South Lyon              3   4   0    6
Northville                 3   3   1    7

KLAA North
Team                      W  L  T  Pts.
Waterford Mott        6   3   0   12
WL Northern           4   1   0     8
Lakeland                  2   4   0     4
Waterford Kettering  1   4   0    2
WL Central              1   5   0    2

KLAA West
Team                      W  L  T  Pts.
Howell                     7   1   1   15
Grand Blanc*           4   1   2   11
Pinckney                  3   3   2    8
Hartland                   3   1   1    7
Milford*                   2   3   0   5
WL Western             1   6   0   2
* one OT loss

LINKS TO GAME COVERAGE ON MIPREPZONE.COM
Davison 5, Lakeland 4
Farmington 4, Rochester United 1
Lakeland 2, Waterford Mott 0
Grosse Pointe South 8, Notre Dame Prep 0
Catholic Central 7, De La Salle 1
Oxford 2, Birmingham United 2