BROWNSTOWN, Mich. – The Northern Lakes Hockey League is proud to announce the addition of Maksymum Hockey AAA to the league for the 2012-13 season.

“We are excited to have a team from the metro Detriot area in our league,” Commissioner Greg Mingay said. “Brian Cronan, the team’s head coach, is also a scout for several junior teams, which will allow our kids to be evaluated by leagues not normally associated with players in the Midwest, which will be another feather in our cap.”

Maksymum burst into the Midget AAA scene last season, and won eight of their final nine games to finish the season with 10 wins.

“We had a late start in our first season,” said Cronan. “However, we’re not gauging our team by our record last year; we were able to put seven kids into juniors, which is much more important to us.”

Maksymum Hockey began in Rochester, New York about 20 years ago by running a learn-to-skate program. The organization has expanded to include a junior team in the Empire Junior Hockey League and in the Eastern Junior Hockey League.

Both teams are associated with the Midget AAA team, which also boasts connections to the Powell River Kings of the British Columbia Hockey League and LaSalle Vipers of the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League, where Cronan serves as a regional scout.

Maksymum was interested in joining the league after playing games against the Soo Indians last year.

“The overall talent is there in the NLHL,” said Cronan. “It’s good competitive hockey, which will help us become a better team.”

Find out more about the NLHL’s newest team, which will play out of The Ice Box in Brownstown, Michigan, by visiting maksymum.com.

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KALAMAZOO, Mich. – For the second time in three years the Shattuck St. Mary’s varsity team has been crowned champion of the Northern Lakes Hockey League playoff series.

The Sabres completed a perfect weekend Sunday morning with a 4-3 victory over the defending champion Thunder Bay Kings.

Thunder Bay started the weekend with a 4-1 win over Marquette, then defeated the host West Michigan Hounds 7-5, Thunder Bay 6-3 and solidified the perfect round-robin with a 5-0 thwarting of the Soo Indians.

The Kings claimed the second seed with wins over the Indians (2-1) and Electricians (4-1), but lost to the hometown Hounds (1-2) in a shootout. The extra point was enough to earn the tie breaker, though.

The Hounds finished the weekend 2-2, Marquette 1-3 and Soo 1-3.
Shattuck St. Mary’s Greg Betzold led all scorers with six goals, and was joined by teammates Alex Rodriguez and Sebastian Weberg as the top point getters with eight. The Soo Indians Ryan Marker was second in goals and fourth in points with five goals.

Zach Quail was a perfect 3-0 for the Sabres with a .923 save percentage and 1.05 goals against average. Eric Mann of the Kings paced all tenders with a .956 save percentage and 0.96 goals against average. All stats were through only round robin play.

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THUNDER BAY – With 36 points in 24 games, the Marquette Electricians have clinched their first Northern Lakes Hockey League regular season championship.

The Electros (14-2-8) went to Thunder Bay (12-6-6) this weekend needing just one point to clinch the title, and got it with a 2-2 tie Saturday morning.

It was the first of three 2-2 ties between the Electricians and Kings, who finished first and second in the regular season standings.

All three contests followed the same story line with Thunder Bay jumping out to 2-0 leads, and Marquette battling back to tie the score in the third period.

Saturday morning Brandon Mihalus and Brett Jeffries scored back-to-back goals midway through the first period, but Marquette’s Brett Love and Cody Wickstrom tied the score.

Thunder Bay held a 2-0 lead going into the third period Satudray night as Ryan Mcqueen and Kris Kellaway scored early on, but Marquette didn’t give up. Jesse Junttila scored 1:04 into the third period and Easton Viitala got the equalizer with less than a second on the clock.

Marquette saved the dramatics in the third contest, getting a power-play marker from Bryan Erspamer 1:52 into the third, adding on to Patrick Sofer’s second period goal. Mathias Gardiman and Billy Exell gave the Kings the 2-0 lead.

Shattuck St. Mary’s (9-9-6) finished the league in third place, with West Michigan (6-12-6) and the Soo Indians (4-16-4) rounding up the bottom.

The league tournament is February 23-26 in Kalamazoo.

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KALAMAZOO – The West Michigan Hounds will host the annual Northern Lakes Hockey League tournament Feb. 23-26 in Kalamazoo, Mich. at Wings Stadium.

All five NLHL teams will meet for the tournament, which takes place after each team has finished its 24-game regular season schedule.

“This gives us a chance to show people what the Hounds and the NLHL are all about,” said Tom Berry, executive director of the Hounds. “Teams should look forward to playing in front of many scouts, as well as their family and friends.”

The tournament will feature a couple special events, including watching the ECHL’s Kalamazoo K-Wings take on the Chicago Express, the NAHL’s Kalamazoo Jr. K-Wings take on the St. Louis Bandits and a banquet Saturday night where league awards will be handed out.

“This is a special chance to recognize the players for their hard work,” said Berry. “They will love the atmosphere at the stadium with the K-Wings and Jr. K-Wings players and team officials around.”

Games will kick off on Thursday the 23rd, with two games played that night, Friday morning, Friday night, Saturday morning and Saturday night, leading up to Saturday night’s banquet.

The top two teams after round robin play will meet at 10 a.m. on Sunday the 26th in the championship game.

“West Michigan will continue the tradition of being an excellent host for the league playoffs,” said Greg Mingay, NLHL commissioner. “There are plenty of NAHL and USHL franchises in the area, so it should be another great opportunity for our athletes to be evaluated.”

Find out more about the tournament by visiting http://www.northernlakeshockey.com/tournament.php.

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SAULT STE. MARIE – The Soo Indians and Shattuck St. Mary’s Sabres took three points each in a weekend series, each winning one before tying the finale.

Shattuck (7-5-6) was 2-1 in the opener, the Indians (3-14-4) 3-2 in the second and both teams scored 3 in Sunday’s contest.

The Indians’ Brandt Miller opened the scoring 2:20 into the second period, but Mathew Lewis and Sebastian Weberg answered back, scoring two goals for the visitors in less than two minutes, and the Sabres held on from there. Aaron Altmeyer stopped 21 shots to earn the victory.

The Indians scored first again in the night game with Eric Tien lighting the lap 1:46 in, but Shattuck’s Taylor Parkinson answered later in the period. Ray Marker scored on the power play to regain the Soo lead, but again the visitor’s answered with a Peter Barral goal.

The Indians weren’t done, though, as Kevin Killips scored the game winner 1:12 after the Barral goal as the Indians earned their third win of the season. Steve Dombrosky earned the win with 27 saves.

Shattuck jumped out to a 2-0 lead early in the series finale, but the Indians scored once in the first and once in the second to make it tied going into the third. Greg Betzold put SSM in front with less than nine minutes remaining, but Nicholas Tassone equaled the mark and the teams stayed tied from there.

The Indians are now 3-3-2 since starting the season 0-11-2, while Shattuck St. Mary’s has moved into second place in the standings, with Weberg and Alex Rodriguez holding down the top two scoring spots in the league.

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KALAMAZOO – The West Michigan Hounds came out flying in the first period of their home finale, jumping out to a quick 2-0 lead and never looking back as they took four of six possible points during an undefeated weekend against Shattuck St. Mary’s.

The Hounds (6-9-6) won 5-2 in the first game, and then tied 1-1 and 2-2 in the final two games to pull ahead of the Sabres (6-4-5), at least temporarily, in the standings.

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FARIBAULT – Sebastian Weberg had two points in all three games as Shattuck St. Mary’s took five points from visiting Soo last weekend.

The Indians kept even in the first game behind the solid goaltending of Steve Dombrosky, tying 2-2, but fell 4-2 and 5-2 in the final two games.

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SAULT STE. MARIE – Steve Dombrosky made the most of his Northern Lakes Hockey League debut this weekend stopping 80 of the 85 shots he faced as the Soo Indians split a three games series with the league-leading Marquette Electricians. While south of the Mackinaw Bridge, the Thunder Bay Kings came away with five points against West Michigan.

The Hounds (5-9-4) and Kings (8-4-3) tied the first game 2-2, but Thunder Bay bounced back with 5-3 and 3-1 victories. Marquette (9-1-5) won game one at Big Bear 3-1, then tied 2-2 before falling 2-0 in the finale.

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THUNDER BAY – Shattuck St. Mary’s went into a tough atmosphere and came out with five points in Northern Lakes Hockey League action this weekend, beating the Thunder Bay Kings twice and tying the weekend finale.

The Sabres (4-3-2) won 3-2 and 5-0 Saturday before tying Sunday’s game 1-1.

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THUNDER BAY – The defending champion Thunder Bay Kings defended the Fort Williams First Nations Arena this weekend well as they swept the West Michigan Hounds in three straight games by a total score of 12-1.

The Hounds failed to score Saturday, losing 4-0, then 5-0 before falling in the finale 3-1.

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