Cranbrook hosted the annual Michigan Interscholastic Hockey League Media Day on Nov. 5 inside Wallace Ice Arena.
Let’s take a look at each team entering the 2025-26 season:
Brother Rice
2024-25 record/finish: 16-11-2; lost to Livonia Stevenson 6-2 in the Division 2 state semifinal
Biggest challenge ahead: Competing for its third state championship since 2021 after falling short the past two seasons
Junior defenseman Drew Murphy: “(Losing to Stevenson) definitely lights a fire under us. It gets us really excited for the season. We’re definitely going to work really hard this year to put good numbers up.”
Cranbrook
2024-25 record/finish: 19-9-1; lost 3-0 to Orchard Lake St. Mary’s in the Division 3 state championship
Biggest challenge ahead: Relying on veteran experience to reach the state championship for a fourth time since 2021
Coach John LaFontaine: “We’re excited. We have mainly seniors this year with strong leadership and guys who have been through it. A lot of them have been here for three years, know the routine and are hungry. But we’ve also got some pretty good juniors. We have our returning goalie, four returning defensemen and six or seven returning forwards.”
Detroit Catholic Central
2024-25 record/finish: 28-2-0; beat Howell 4-1 to win the Division 1 state championship
Biggest challenge ahead: Winning an MHSAA-record seventh straight state championship
Senior defenseman Ryan Dye: “(Winning a sixth-straight title in 2024-25) is super special, but we’re trying not to focus on it too much. We’re more worried about the process than the outcome.”
Detroit U-D Jesuit
2024-25 record/finish: 6-20-0; lost to Brother Rice 7-1 in the Division 2 regional final
Biggest challenge ahead: Rely on younger depth to inch closer to a .500 record
Coach Domenic Recchia: “We have a good mix of seniors, juniors and sophomores — and sophomores who are new to the program who will be pushing for playing time, pushing these guys (the veterans) to be the best they can be and for the senior leaders to lead.”
Grosse Pointe South
2024-25 record/finish: 6-19-0; lost 4-1 to Detroit U-D Jesuit in the Division 2 regional semifinal
Biggest challenge ahead: Getting acclimated to a first-year coach
Coach Ben Warda: “(Before I took the job) I knew we were in the best league in the state, so that’s what made this job really attractive. … Getting to know these guys right off the bat, I know we have something special here, and we have to rebuild. We have a great group, honestly, and this leadership I couldn’t be more thrilled to work with. They’ve impressed us both on and off the ice. We’ve thrown a lot at them since Day 1. Our practices are intense. Our off-ice training, they’ve taken it in stride. They’re leading the way. … So I’m thrilled to see what we have.”
Orchard Lake St. Mary’s
2024-25 record/finish: 23-5-2; beat Cranbrook 3-0 to win the Division 3 state championship
Biggest challenge ahead: Winning back-to-back state championships for the first time since 2007 and 2008
Coach Brian Klanow: “(Winning last year) was very special. It was a lot of hard work, a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff, a lot of video work, a lot working with the varsity white (B) team and these guys, and it worked to our benefit. … We’re going to rely really heavily on (our four captains) and their leadership when we pull some guys up. We graduated 18 seniors, so we’re a little light on that end there, but we’ve got a really hard-working squad.”
Port Huron Northern
2024-25 record/finish: 2-25-0; forfeit loss Rochester United in the Division 2 regional semifinal
Biggest challenge ahead: Send off the seniors with playoff success in Year 4 of coach Lewis Nowakowski’s tenure
Coach Lewis Nowakowski: “It’s been kind of nice seeing some of these freshmen now become seniors through the whole process. Some of our captains were with us as freshmen, and they’re taking on leadership from the get-go, so we’re really excited.”
Riverview Gabriel Richard
2024-25 record/finish: 12-11-1; lost to Cranbrook 3-2 in overtime of the Division 3 quarterfinal
Biggest challenge ahead: Proving itself as a brand-new member of the state’s best league
Coach Richard DeSana: “We’re looking at it as a tremendous opportunity to be a part of this — to go from an independent to being accepted into the best hockey league, we’re proud of it. We take it as a sense of accomplishment that they would even say yes and accept us into the league. That little bit says a lot about our program and especially the players that we have.”
Trenton
2024-25 record/finish: 18-8-2; lost 4-2 to Brother Rice in the Division 2 quarterfinal
Biggest challenge ahead: Utilize its returning 11 seniors, six juniors and four sophomores to get back to USA Hockey Arena
Assistant Keith Kneiding: “I think it (losing in the quarterfinal) has (inspired us). It’s a classic rivalry with a team like Brother Rice. So, for us, we always want to be one step further than we were the year before. I’ve been with the program, I think this is Year 9, so in eight years we’ve been to the final four or better six times. We’ve been fortunate to be in the state finals four times in that run and, again, we were knocked out in the quarterfinals last year in a great high school hockey game with two competitive MIHL hockey teams, so we’re hoping to take it a step further this year if we can.”
Warren DeLaSalle
2024-25 record/finish: 17-9-0; lost to Cranbrook in the Division 3 regional final
Biggest challenge ahead: Bouncing back after an early playoff exit
Coach Chad LaRose: “(Losing in the regional final has fueled us) because it’s got to, right? After that game, I wasn’t super upset or anything. We worked our butts off and had a really good game. … Losing 1-0 hurts, but these guys are all returners here, and they know what it means (when you need to bounce back).”
Brandon Folsom covers high school sports in metro Detroit for Hometown Life. Follow him on his new X.com account at @folsomwrites.
This article originally appeared on Hometownlife.com: 10 takeaways from Michigan Interscholastic Hockey League Media Day
Reporting by Brandon Folsom, Hometownlife.com / Hometownlife.com
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