The Morning After (In the Evening)

Would like to tell you all that there was so much to consider about the past week's games that I spent the whole day cogitating. Reality: I had a lot of stuff to get done to pay the bills and get my house in some semblance of order. But let's not let my mundane existence outside of hockey permeate the WMHSH Blog too much. Some news and notes from the week that was.

Friday's 5-2 loss to the #1 team in the state (Livonia Stevenson) stung Forest Hills N/E coach Kevin Zaschak a bit more than usual for a non-conference game on the east side of the state. The reason: He's a Livonia Stevenson grad, though he didn't play high school hockey there.
He played AAA instead, a choice he says he regrets. "I got some bad advice back then," he told me in an email. A decision to play travel instead of high school continues to haunt him today -- not just his past, but his present: There are no less than seven kids who are eligible to play for FHN/E that are playing AAA for the likes of NXI, GRAHA, and Victory Honda this season.

Reeths-Puffer coach Eric Sikkenga finally got a chance to rest his workhorse goalie, Eddie Young, for the first time this season against Detroit Country Day. Until Friday, Young had been the only goalie on the Rockets' roster. Against DCD, senior Robert Hyma, a transfer from nearby Orchard View, got the nod. He got bombed with 31 shots and the entire RP team was a little "flat" according to Sikkenga. Young was back in the nets Saturday and was sharp in a 3-2 conference win over a feisty Jenison team.

There are a number of hot teams in West Michigan, but is anyone hotter right now than East Grand Rapids? The Pioneers are 6-1 over the past month, and they're playing great hockey with balanced scoring from the top two lines, gritty play from its third/checking line and solid D with goalie Ian McDonald as the backstop. Ordinarily, you'd want to hang the schedule maker for putting two conference games on consecutive nights -- Rockford this Wednesday and Kentwood on Thursday -- but the way East is playing, that just might be a benefit.

The boys at Lowell-Caledonia might just want to make a case they are the hottest team in West Michigan. I've seen them play twice in the past two weeks, and let me tell you, these boys can wheel and they can lay on the lumber. Their top two lines are all seniors and are all averaging double-digits in points.

Forest Hills Central had a great week of hockey, beating Kenowa in an all-important OK-2 game and dismantling Grand Haven to pick up 4 points in the league standings. The Rangers have been playing great hockey of late and certainly have an explosive offense. They have another huge week of hockey coming up this week.

One of the hottest players in West Michigan is Muskegon Catholic Central's Adam Pieczynski, who had a couple of goals on Saturday against Cheboygan. Pieczynski has a 10-game point streak going.

Grand Rapids Catholic Central's win Friday against Christian High makes it official: GRCC will take home the last ever crown for the Grand Rapids City League. The Cougars are undefeated in the City League, which will fold after the 2007-08 school year, and have only one league game left: West Catholic, which has already has two league losses.

Finally, would like to say a special thanks to the growing number of correspondent bloggers out there who are taking the time to write, email and call with game updates, news and notes. My favorite part of the weekend was hearing that my correspondents from Portage Northern and Big Rapids met each other this weekend down in Monroe, where the two teams played each other in a tournament. The WMHSH Blog: Bringing Hockey People Together.

If you're reading the blog, but not seeing a lot of news about your team, we can fix that. Send an email to brian.h.edwards@gmail.com.