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!

Mackenzie MacEachern (right) and former Calumet and
current Windsor forward Ben Johnson pose for a picture
after being drafted by St. Louis and New Jersey in last
week's NHL Draft in Pittsburgh.

Kind of amazing how fast things have gone for Brother Rice grad Mackenzie MacEachern over the last year. I wrote a little bit about it in Friday's Oakland Press. A year ago he was savoring a great 2010-11 season in which he won co-MVP honors in the MIHL.
Now, he's still coming to grips with being drafted by the St. Louis Blues with the 67th overall pick in the 2012 NHL Draft. In between he stood out in the MDHL fall league, dominated high school hockey this past winter - winning a state title and the Mr. Hockey award - and then led Team Michigan to victory at the Minnesota NIT Championship.
He's received a scholarship offer from Michigan State and was drafted fourth overall by the Chicago Steel in the USHL Draft in May. He told me he plans to report to the Steel in September and will play a year before hopefully getting his chance to play for the Spartans.
But like I wrote in the story, who knows what will happen. I think the sky's the limit for this young man. He's got great size and hockey skills to be a playmaker at any level. I think it won't be long before you see him in a Blues' uniform.

Before I heard about MacEachern being drafted by the Blues, I had learned about Connor Hellebuyck being taken in the fifth round by the Winnipeg Jets. Now this is an interesting story. While MacEachern came from relative obscurity - Rice's JV team as a sophomore - he stormed onto the big scene at a high school powerhouse these past two years. He was a two-time first-team all-county selection.
But Hellebuyck, who played his prep hockey at Walled Lake Northern, has quietly made a name for himself. Because he played for the Knights - who have risen up as a program over the past couple years but are nowhere near the household name the Warriors are - he didn't get the credit he deserved for being a great goalie. He was my fourth-team all-county goalie a year ago. In my defense, I had not seen him play and no one else was giving him much attention, either.
But I do recall a conversation with a coach this past offseason from a well-known hockey powerhouse who said Hellebuyck was very talented. He had a great year with the Odessa (Tex.) Jackalopes this past year. So in a sense, it didn't surprise me to hear that he had been drafted. But this year? OK, maybe a little.