Junior Joey Cormier played stout in net all season, and the championship game loss against Hartland was no exception. It was a chippy, hard-fought game that saw the first period end with a fight. (Dave Chapman photo)
BY BRIAN RZEPPA
With remarkably high expectations year-in and year-out, the Trenton High School Hockey program sets a bar for themselves each year that most other comparable schools could only dream of achieving.
While this year’s team fell just short of their championship aspirations — with the season ending in a 4-0 State Championship loss to back-to-back champion Hartland — it was an impressive run and one that not many would have predicted at the start of the year.
Chad Clements, the head coach of the Trojans, was confident that the team would be able to compete for the Downriver League crown and was hopeful for a playoff appearance, but he realized during the season that this team could be a special one.
“Around the middle of the season we went on a run and pulled off a few big wins and at that point we saw that we had something special if we could maintain it. The kids really bought in and we had a really successful season,” Clements said. “If you would have said we’d be a five-loss team at the start of the season I might have chuckled a little bit, so we did a bit better than our original expectations and ultimately I was just really proud of the team and what we were able to accomplish.”
There were contributions all across the board, including four players — Devin Dunn, Nolan Szczepaniak, Brandon Clark and Ethan Holt — who scored more than one point per game, but the team was pushed over the top in large part because of their goaltender, Joey Cormier.
“The goaltending was phenomenal; Joey (Cormier) just played out of his mind the whole season,” Clements said. “He gave us a chance to win each and every night and there wasn’t any night that he didn’t compete hard. Even in the games we lost, Joey played well. Our nine seniors — it was one of the most veteran teams I have ever coached — all played regularly and played a vital part offensively and defensively. What we got out of them was leadership and scoring and it was so nice to have guys who have played in big games and were hungry to get back.”
Cormier’s efforts throughout the season, which amounted to a 17-4 record with seven shutouts, a 1.39 Goals Against Average and a .947 Save Percentage, came in handy throughout the playoffs and even into the State Championship game where he stopped 40 shots.
Despite his efforts however, Trenton fell to Hartland in the State Championship once again. While he was disappointed by the result, Clements was happy with the effort that his team gave.
“The biggest thing is that Hartland just has really high-end players,” he said. “They have really skilled players and the individual talent they have is tremendous. I have to give my hat off to Rick Gadwa, their head coach, because he gets them to play as a team as well so they’re not just playing as individuals. They’re faster than us and much more offensively skilled, so we were hoping to just make the most of the chances we got and hoped to take advantage of their breakdowns.
“We knew they would probably out-chance us and outshoot us, but it was one of those things where if we could take away the middle of the ice we thought we’d have a chance. Just like last year, we had a lull and they scored two goals in eight or nine seconds and it put us back on our heels. We didn’t play our best hockey, but I don’t fault my boys at all. They played with everything they had left in the tank and we had quite a run again and beat some great teams, so I was proud of them and we just didn’t have it left in us to battle against a high-powered team like Hartland.”
As he looks toward the future, Clements knows that work is going to have to be done to overcome teams like Hartland if Trenton is going to get over the hump and win another State Championship.
“We need to have all of our guys on our team at tip-top shape and top performance level to be able to get over the hump against a team like Hartland. We’re really going to have to put in the time in the offseason to get stronger mentally and physically. Penalties plagued us throughout this entire season and our penalty kill was great, but you can’t rely on that.
“When we make a run like this, we need to be able to be going at full amounts of energy even this late in the year and we’re going to work on that before next season. We’re losing a lot of guys, but we have summer season and fall season to get stronger. It’s going to come down to guys buying in and picking up the slack and dedicating ourselves to the offseason preparation.”
Though the team is losing nine seniors to graduation, Clements feels that with the right amount of effort throughout the offseason and the right mindset moving forward, this program is on the right track.
“You have to just stay positive and stay hungry. Any goal at the start of the season is to get to where we got to, but the next step will be winning it all. To get there we have to stay hungry and they have to realize that after having nine seniors last year, it’s probably going to be a lot slower next season as far as development out of the gate.” Clements said.
“We need to get everyone acclimated to the system and they will have to be very patient and as a coaching staff we’re going to have to work hard to bring the newcomers in and bring them along slowly and the older guys are going to have to take charge.”
The goal of any season is to end on a win but despite that the Trenton High School Hockey team had a season that most would envy, and they appear to be primed to remain competitive into the future.