A rowdy student section and hundreds of other fans packed Buffalo Wild Wings Arena for Troy United’s 9-1 hockey victory over Farmington United on senior night on Jan. 31.
After snapping a team photo on the ice, the party shifted to the west end of the rink. Parents lined up for celebration shots as players poured out of the locker room, while others stopped to pose for selfies with friends.
TU, the co-op between Troy and Athens, did it. The team capped a perfect 8-0 run through the Oakland Activities Association-White, earning the right to hang its first banner since the 2019-20 season.
It also continued to set the program record for most wins in a single season, now at 21.
And none of it likely would’ve happened had seniors Joey Clark and Matt Van Raemdonck quit playing three years ago.
Rewind to their freshman season in 2022-23, when TU went winless, losing 21 straight. Sixteen of those losses came by mercy rule. Eight times, they lost by 10 goals or more.
“I thought about quitting,” said Clark, the captain. “But then I convinced a few guys to come out for the team, and I knew a few more guys would come in the future, and I just thought if we could build this up that it was going to be a great new few years for us.”
Those who stay will be champions, as the old Ann Arbor saying goes.
But staying meant more than just signing up again sophomore season.
They had to believe in what coach Josh Brown was selling.
“I had a four-year plan — and my plan was to have them get an understanding of loving the process and not just having your final destination be winning those championships,” Brown said. “I wanted them to actually fall in love with your process of being in practice, being at the workouts and having the mentality change to have our culture kind of get changed throughout those four years when I first came in.”
The program grew steadily, winning six games in Clark and Van Raemdonck’s sophomore season and then 18 a year ago.
While TU has developed plenty of in-house talent, it’s also taken hallway recruiting to bring some of the district’s top hockey players on board. Many had previously played on travel teams.
“My sales pitch to them was that high school hockey is a lot of fun,” said Clark, who scored the game’s first goal and the final mercy-rule clincher in the third period to cap senior night. “Being able to play for your school and in front of a lot more fans than you do playing on travel teams makes it so much more fun. To be able to play with the guys you go to school with every day, really, it’s just a fun aspect, plus being able to play for more trophies and a (meaningful) record.”
Brown was speechless when asked about his team finishing a perfect season in the OAA and setting program records along the way.
But he knew none of it was possible without his seniors staying loyal and trusting the process. Because of them, TU has built something special, something that should last as long as Brown remains on the bench.
“There are no words,” he said. “For (Clark and Van Raemdonck) to go through that all four years, and for this year to be special for them with how it’s turned out, I can’t even express (how I feel). … For them to stick with that dedication, them knowing the kids will come back and want to play here, I think it’s going to bring those next conversations with those next wave of kids with how much dedication it shows.”
Of course, the job isn’t finished.
While TU is guaranteed to hang a league championship banner after this season, the players still want to see a regional banner up there alongside it.
And that would be a dream come true for the seniors.
“It’s what I’ve wanted for four years,” Clark said. “Always looking up at the rest of the banners in the rafters, I’ve always wanted my name up there, so it’s great to finally accomplish that. It means the world, honestly, coming from that freshman season to building up the team each season, getting exponentially better. It just means so much to be with these guys and just grow as a team.”
OAA-WHITE STANDINGS
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: Record-setting Troy United hockey wins OAA-White
Reporting by Brandon Folsom, Hometownlife.com / Hometownlife.com
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
