Trimedia 12-under Pee Wee hockey team from Marquette hosting state tournament this weekend
MARQUETTE — The Marquette Junior Hockey Trimedia 12 years-and-under Pee Wee AA travel hockey team is in a unique position this season.
The team is getting a chance this weekend to host the Tier 2 state tournament, something that hasn’t occurred for this particular division of youth hockey in at least two decades, according to team spokesman Cal Dellies.
But the team has by all accounts had an awe-inspiring year, starting its season undefeated in its first 32 games and now sporting a 40-3-4 record after winning the Northern International Hockey League regular season and playoff titles. They’ve also won tourney titles in Traverse City and in the Wisconsin cities of Green Bay and Madison.
Just to throw a bit of a twist into this team’s story, one of its players, Caleb Bell, was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma back in November. While Bell has been battling that, his team has worn No. 16 stickers on their helmets, sported buzz-cut haircuts and had his jersey hanging behind the bench each game.
This weekend’s event kicks off with an opening ceremony at noon Friday at Lakeview Arena, while Trimedia’s first game is at 7 p.m. Friday against the Macomb Mavericks.
Other games will be played at 5, 5:30 and 6:30 p.m. Friday at both Lakeview rinks. Other teams involved are the Calumet Junior Kings, USA Eagles, Trenton, Traverse City North Stars, Saginaw and Chelsea.
Marquette is in a division with Macomb, Saginaw and Chelsea, with the other four teams in the other pool-play division.
Games resume at 8 a.m. Saturday with the final one starting at 5 p.m., then the semifinals go at 8 and 8:30 a.m. Sunday with the championship game at 2 p.m. Sunday.
The Trimedia team is coached by former Marquette Senior High School varsity coach Mike L’Huillier. Ethan Phillips leads the team in scoring with 40 goals and 42 assists for 82 points, while linemate Jack Sides has 48 goals and 26 assists for 74 points and their other linemate Drew Dellies has 27 goals and 42 assists for 69 points.
The team has three offensive lines, unlike many teams at this level with one star player. The other two lines include Brayden Grange (42 points), Caden Bouws (57 points) and Theo Adams (12 points), and also Cole Ranta (43 points), Jake Garrow (45 points) and AJ Bottari (37 points).
Trimedia also gives up just over one goal per game, with a defense corps that includes Owen Riipi, Joe Mattia, Dylan King, Colin Nemacheck and Jack Helgren. Liam Beerman has played goalie in all 47 games, sporting a .907 saves percentage and 16 shutouts.
A full schedule of the tourney is available at the website http://www.mqthockey.org/page/show/3098033-maha-12u-aa-state-tournament.
Information compiled by Journal Sports Writer Steve Brownlee. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.