One would think the Michigan High School Athletic Association would have learned from its colossal blunder and ensured we didn’t have a repeat of a fiasco that outraged many in the high school hockey community last season.
One would think.
Alas, the MHSAA has doubled down on a draw that eliminated one of the two best teams in Michigan by the regional final and created a bracket that funnels the three best teams into the same quarterfinal.
As we enjoyed some great hockey over the past few months, the dark cloud hanging over the sport was the knowledge that only one of the three best teams in Division 1 will be among the final four teams at USA Hockey Arena when the semifinals are played on March 5.
Two of those teams will face each other for a regional championship. Top-ranked Howell, winner of 24 straight games, will have to find a way to beat third-ranked Hartland for a third time to even get out of its region.
The reward for the Hartland-Howell winner, if it can be called that, will be a matchup in the state quarterfinals with second-ranked Detroit Catholic Central. No big deal here. Just the six-time defending state champion, that’s all.
This is two years in a row Hartland has been given a brutal draw. The Eagles have to be wondering if someone at the MHSAA hates them.
When the smoke clears, only one of the top three teams will be heading to USA Hockey Arena in a season in which there was a clear drop-off after the top three teams. They might as well hand out the state championship trophy after the quarterfinal game Feb. 28 in Flint.
Just like they might as well have given the Shamrocks the state championship trophy after surviving a 2-1 overtime classic with Hartland in the regional final last year. Catholic Central was barely tested in the final three games, winning by a combined 16-2 margin.
It’s not like it’s a huge surprise that Howell, Catholic Central and Hartland are the best teams in Division 1 this season. It’s not like the MHSAA couldn’t have foreseen this would be the case and found ways to separate the teams until USA Hockey Arena.
But “geography,” you say?
Hartland and Howell are neighboring rivals that share M-59 in common, but have been put in different regions ever since Hartland moved to Division 1 in 2022-23. Teams from the hockey hotbed of Livingston County have usually avoided matchups with Catholic Central until the final four. Howell has played in a Lansing-area regional the past couple years, but was moved out this season.
The MHSAA can make it work, but chose not to once again.
In fact, the MHSAA makes it work every single year in the sports of wrestling and boys and girls lacrosse. Those sports are seeded ahead of time and, given the fact the same handful of teams dominate year after year, it’s not difficult.
Brighton and Hartland are strong in all three sports, but are kept apart until at least the state quarterfinals for boys lacrosse and semifinals for girls. Brighton, Hartland and Catholic Central are state wrestling powers from schools that often meet in districts or regionals, but the brackets are drawn up in way that keeps them separated until the team finals.
You would never seen Catholic Central and Birmingham Brother Rice meet in a boys lacrosse regional, even though the schools are in the same geographic region. Is it more important to get it right in lacrosse than in hockey?
Why doesn’t this happen in hockey?
I get why the Division 3 hockey regional in Copper Country is drawn up like it is because of the remote location of Calumet, Hancock and Houghton. But with much of the rest of the state, it would be so easy to get creative so the top teams don’t cannibalize one another in the early rounds.
Shouldn’t the best teams in the state be showcased at the state finals? The folks in Minnesota must be laughing at us right now.
Imagine a Division 1 final four of Howell, Catholic Central, Hartland and whichever team survives a grouping that includes Brighton, Northville and Utica Eisenhower. That would be worth packing USA Hockey Arena for both semifinals and the state final.
It will be cringeworthy to see some of the teams playing on the big stage next month when two of the top three teams will be sitting at home.
Hockey fans aren’t stupid. They’ll see the Division 1 matchups and a significant number will realize it’s probably not worth their time to come to Plymouth to watch 5-0 blowouts.
And, as much as I love hockey, I wouldn’t blame them.
Contact Bill Khan at wkhan@livingstondaily.com. Follow him on X @BillKhan.
This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: MHSAA deprives fans of best matchups at USA Hockey Arena − again
Reporting by Bill Khan, Livingston Daily / Livingston Daily
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