If playing hockey is boiled down to one thing, above all else it takes a serious level of commitment not just from the player but the family as well.
That commitment is not lost on the dozens of high school hockey families involved in this year’s league, as MDHL players have committed their weekends in the Fall to long commutes across the state of Michigan.
The player pool for the 2017 MDHL season is a diverse one, including players from virtually every corner of the Lower Peninsula. Among them is
MDHL Red senior goaltender
Taylor Troxel, who makes the three-and-a-half hour trek from Petoskey each weekend.
“Of course [the commute] is worth it,” he said. “I mean its definitely worth it to come down here. The competition level, it’s good to get the experience.”
Troxel is entering his fourth season with the Northmen and with his senior year on the horizon, the 5-foot-8, 165-pound net minder has his sights set on playing beyond high school. With that goal, he said its important to seek exposure and that in order to play junior hockey one day, he must compete at a high level like the MDHL.
With a seven-hour round trip commute for weekend games, though, it is a significant commitment not just for Troxel but also for his mother, who serves as chaperon for her son’s trips downstate.
“She knows what the level of play is down state and she totally agrees with it,” Troxel said. “She’s happy to come with (me).”
Troxel is far from the only one in the league with a commute, however. Among the many others are Alpena juniors and
MDHL Blue teammates
Owen Limback and
Colby Plowman. Together, the duo shares rides down I-75, carpooling to games on the weekends.
“It’s about four hours depending on if traffic is good that day,” Limback said. “I think it’s definitely worth it. Its very good competition even just for one game. It’s really good.”
But quite possibly the longest commute of the bunch comes from
Chris Deneweth and the boys from Traverse City at about four hours and 15 minutes door-to-door from home to rink.
The Traverse City area is well represented in the league by Deneweth as well as his teammates
Zach VanCompernolle and
Jack Bradley who play for the Bay Reps during the high school season.
“Traverse City is a small town,” Deneweth said. “Not many scouts come up to Traverse City because it’s a small town and there’s not much around it. So to come down here to a big city and have a bunch of good players just gives you a better opportunity [to get looked at].”
Catching the eye of scouts during league play was a huge draw for
Fletcher Bolda as well.
“I heard from a couple coaches that it’d be a good opportunity for me to play at a higher level and to play against the best guys in the state at the high school level,” said Bolda. “Obviously, I want to play next year and I want to play on at a higher level. This is the best opportunity for me to develop as a hockey player to be ready for the junior level, so that’s why I chose the MDHL.”
A senior goaltender, Bolda makes the three-and-a-half hour trip solo from Big Rapids on game days. He admitted it is a long trip for just one game but said that as a goalie, he won’t face more challenging shots in a game on a consistent basis anywhere else.
“I would say it’s worth it because in a normal high school game you’re not going to see as good of players on every line, every shift,” Bolda said. “To play against the top guys in the state every single weekend its definitely worth it.”
The structure of the league, division of teams and 10-game season, he said also presents another layer of competition in which players can form a bond with their teammates and interact with high-level coaches.
Aside from Bolda, Deneweth, Limback and Troxel, the entire
MDHL Green team is fielded of players exclusively from Western Michigan, offering a diverse talent pool of players from a variety of teams across the state.
League-play resumes on Saturday with games beginning at 9:00 a.m. at Plymouth Cultural Center. Each team will play two games over the weekend which will mark the halfway point of the 10-game regular season.
Craig Peterson
Editor, MDHLMI.com
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