Grandville & Wayland Updates

Have been hearing about some changes at Grandville as well as Wayland and wanted to post updates here. Coach Mike Bynski of Grandville has confirmed his team will co-op with Byron Center next season. That move helps expand the number of potential players for the Bulldogs, who only had 19 kids try out for the team, which rostered 18. The short bench was problematic when players got hurt or were trying to nurse injuries.

Bynski said: "With injuries to a few key players last year and not having the depth on the roster to support these injuries, I felt it was in the best long term interest for our hockey program to seek an alternative source to help draw players from."

The Byron Center-Grandville alliance also solves a potential problem for the Wayland co-op team, which BC had been aligned with over the past few years. The combined enrollment of the four schools in the Wildcat Co-Op program last year -- Wayland Union, Byron Center, Hopkins and Thornapple-Kellogg -- was inching toward the 3500 student maximum occupancy limit for state playoff eligibility. Teams that exceed the maximum cannot participate in the state playoffs.

The timing seems good. BC had only two players on the Wildcat team last year that will be eligible in 2008-09, so leaving now isn't a crippling blow by most accounts. That said, there are a few Byron Center kids coming up through travel hockey at the moment that will have a good shot at making the Grandville team in the fall. Bynski told me in an email that several players from Byron Center are on Grandville's spring hockey team, have participated in its off ice spring camps, and are registered for its summer on ice training sessions.

Hastings is the most likely candidate to replace BC on the Wildcat co-op team. Wildcat coach Ryan McLeod shot me a note that said: "Sorry, I don't know a whole lot at this time. I do know that we are trying to add Hastings and that everything was approved on their end. It looks like it's going to happen, but it's not 100% yet."