The Michigan high school hockey playoffs are down to just four teams at each of the three divisions. Of the 12 remaining, six were in this exact same spot a year ago. Top-ranked Detroit Catholic Central is the only program looking to win consecutive titles, after two other 2023 champions (Brother Rice in D-II and Flint Powers in D-III) were eliminated earlier in the tournament. The Shamrocks will look to claim their fifth consecutive state championship in Division-I. If they are successful, they would tie the state record for most consecutive championships (five) as well as tie the record for most championships all-time (18). 

All three runner-ups from a year ago return looking to ‘finish the story’ this time. Brighton in D-I, Byron Center in D-II and East Grand Rapids in D-III will all be hoping that a return trip to Plymouth nets different results. Both BC and EGR, as well as Reeths-Puffer and the Bay Reps, represent the best that West Michigan has to offer. This region of the state hasn’t won a championship since 2011, and has never been accomplished at the D-I level. 

It’s been 113 days since the regular season got underway. More than 1,600 games have been played. One-hundred eighteen teams have been eliminated from contention. Here’s the 12 teams remaining, how they got here, and what’s at stake to be one of the three teams to win a state championship.

Division-I

Detroit Catholic Central

‘23-24 Record: 27-1-0
Division MPR: 1st
Goal Differential: +123
Record vs. Top 25: 15-0-0
Key Wins: 2-1 W over Houghton (2/2), 3-1 W over Byron Center (2/3), 7-1 W over OLSM (12/2 and 1/6)
Key Losses: 2-1 L to out-of-state Lake Forest Academy
Top Performers: Sophomore forward Brooks Rogowski, senior forward Jackson Walsh
Stat of the Season: Scored the second-most goals in the state (141) while playing the toughest strength of schedule. That included 20 different goal scorers — five of which finished in double digits — and a state-leading 14 different skaters with 10 or more points. 

Brighton

‘23-24 Record: 23-4-1
Division MPR: 3rd
Goal Differential: +81
Record vs. Top 25: 11-4-0
Key Wins: 4-3 W over Clarkston (11/24), 3-1 W over Clarkston (12/7), 3-0 W over Hartland (1/19), 6-1 W over Bay Reps (2/3)
Key Losses: 3-2 L to OLSM (11/22), 7-1 L to DCC (12/9), 5-0 L to Hartland (12/16)
Top Performers: Senior forward Cam Duffany, senior forward Lane Petit, senior goalie Levi Pennala
Stat of the Season: In 13 career playoff games, Cam Duffany and Lane Petit have combined to score 39 goals. That’s more than five MI-HS teams scored during the entirety of the ‘23-24 regular season. The ‘05 forward duo has played in 84 of a possible 87 games for Brighton, having made three consecutive trips to the Final Four. That means no other player in the Class of 2024 has played more varsity games over the past three seasons than Duffany and Petit.

Clarkston

‘23-24 Record: 22-5-1
Division MPR: 4th
Goal Differential: +77
Record vs. Top 25: 6-4-1
Key Wins: 2-1 W over De La Salle (12/16), 4-0 W over Livonia Stevenson (1/3), 2-1 W over Flint Powers (12/16)
Key Losses: 5-3 L to DCC, 4-3 L to Brighton (11/24), 3-1 L to Brighton (12/7), 3-2 L to Brother Rice (2/3)
Top Performers: Junior forward Ron Wade, junior forward Kyle Lynch, senior forward Owen Croston
Stat of the Season: March 7, 2008 was the last time Clarkston appeared in the state semifinal. That was five months before the current starting goaltender Brady Damian was born. Damian is one of three sophomore goaltenders (Reeths-Puffer’s Huck Van Dyke and Tyler Boynton-Fisher from the Bay Reps) slated to appear in the Final Four this weekend. If any of them are to win a state championship, it’d be the first time a sophomore goalie has backstopped the winning team since 2017, and just the second time in the past 10 years.

Reeths-Puffer

‘23-24 Record: 21-7-0
Division MPR: 14th
Goal Differential: +63
Record vs. Top 25: 1-2-0
Key Wins: 6-4 W over Grand Rapids Christian (11/15), 5-2 W over Sparta (1/10), 5-4 OTW over FHNE (2/17), 7-3 W over FHNE (3/2)
Key Losses: 7-4 L to Clarkston (1/6), 3-2 L to Bay City (12/15), 6-3 L to Mona Shores (12/27)
Top Performers: Senior forward Jaxon Stone, sophomore forward Eli Cuti, senior forward Croix Klint, junior forward Tyler Tindall
Stat of the Season: Jaxon Stone enters the Final Four with an active 23-game point streak. It’s the longest of any player in any division heading into the weekend. He’s amassed 57 of his 62 points during the point streak, and has factored in on nearly half his team’s total offense. Reeths-Puffer has a 36-8-1 record all-time when Stone has recorded at least one point. 

Division-II

Byron Center

‘23-24 Record: 25-1-2
Division MPR: 1st
Goal Differential: +112
Record vs. Top 25: 8-1-2
Key Wins: 5-3 W over OLSM (12/8), 4-2 W over De La Salle (1/19), 3-2 W over East Grand Rapids (11/24)
Key Losses: 3-1 L to DCC (2/3)
Top Performers: Senior forward Jackson Froysland, senior forward Cade Pratt
Stat of the Season: There’s been 66 State Champions in Michigan high school hockey since the 1999-00 season. In that span, 14 teams that finished as the State Runner-up the previous season returned to the State Final game the following season as well. Only five were able to come away with a championship in the second attempt, and it’s never been done at the D-II level. 

Trenton

‘23-24 Record: 22-4-2
Division MPR: 4th
Goal Differential: +68
Record vs. Top 25: 7-4-1
Key Wins: 5-1 W over U of D Jesuit (3/1), 3-2 W over U of D Jesuit (12/16), 3-2 W over Marquette (2/2), 4-3 W over Livonia Stevenson (12/9)
Key Losses: 9-2 L to DCC (1/24), 3-2 L to Houghton (12/2), 3-1 L to OLSM (1/17), 
Top Performers: Senior forward Will Barrett, senior goalie Noah Miklos, junior goalie Evan Sivi
Stat of the Season: All 20 skaters on the full-time roster for Trenton scored at least one goal this season. Only one — Will Barrett — reached double digits. It is one of the most diverse and spread out offensive attacks in the modern era of Michigan high school hockey. Over the course of three games this season, the Trojans went through a stretch where they scored 10 goals from 10 different skaters consecutively. 

White Lake Lakeland

‘23-24 Record: 22-5-1
Division MPR: 6th
Goal Differential: +73
Record vs. Top 25: 1-3-0
Key Wins: 5-4 W over Brother Rice (2/28), 3-1 W over Saginaw Heritage (2/1)
Key Losses: 4-1 L to Sault Ste. Marie (11/18), 3-2 L to Trenton (11/25), 4-1 L to Flint Powers (2/17)
Top Performers: Senior goalie Paul Baker, sophomore forward Austin Scanlon, senior forward Brennan Grant
Stat of the Season: This is White Lake Lakeland’s first ever appearance in the Final Four. The last program to win a state championship as a newcomer to USA Hockey Arena was Midland Dow in 2022. Unofficially, six first-time participants have won a state title since the tournament moved to Plymouth in 2003. Paul Baker has played all but 21 minutes in goal for the Eagles, with a 1.73 goals-against average and .924 save percentage. 

Saginaw Heritage

‘23-24 Record: 15-13-0
Division MPR: 10th
Goal Differential: -1
Record vs. Top 25: 2-9-0
Key Wins: 2-1 W over Bay City (2/7), 2-0 W over Bay City (2/28), 5-4 W over Country Day (12/16)
Key Losses: 9-1 L to Brighton (12/2), 5-1 L to Houghton (12/8), 7-1 L to Hartland (2/17)
Top Performers: Senior defenseman Owen Turner, junior defenseman Logan Boettcher, senior forward Owen Gohm, senior forward Alec Mellon
Stat of the Season: Saginaw Heritage has made six Final Four appearances since 2013, advancing to the championship game five times. The Hawks entered the 2024 Michigan high school hockey playoffs with a sub-.500 win percentage. No team with a losing record has gone on to win a state championship in at least the past 10 years. 

Division-III

Houghton

‘23-24 Record: 24-2-2
Division MPR: 1st
Goal Differential: +93
Record vs. Top 25: 10-1-1
Key Wins: 4-2 W over Hartland (11/18), 3-2 W over Trenton (12/2), W 4-3 over Brother Rice (1/12), 7-1 W over Sault Ste. Marie (3/2)
Key Losses: 2-1 L to DCC (2/2) 
Top Performers: Senior forward Michael Maillette, senior defenseman Connor Raffaelli, senior goalie Bryant Lee
Stat of the Season: Houghton allowed the fewest goals against in the regular season of Michigan high school hockey (30). The last three teams to lead the state in GAA have all gone on to win a state title in their respective divisions, although none were in D-III. It’s been 42 years since the last time the Gremlins won a state title (1982). That is the second-longest active drought among teams with a state championship, behind Lumen Christi who last won it in 1978.

East Grand Rapids

‘23-24 Record: 23-5-0
Division MPR: 5th
Goal Differential: +81
Record vs. Top 25: 8-3-0
Key Wins: 3-1 W over OLSM (3/2), 2-1 W over GRCC (2/28), 8-3 W over U of D Jesuit (2/2), 5-2 W over Howell (2/3)
Key Losses: 3-2 L to Byron Center (11/24), 5-2 L to Bay Reps (1/13), 2-0 L to GRCC (12/1)
Top Performers: Senior forward Glenn Green, senior forward Ian MacKeigan, senior forward Scotty Millman
Stat of the Season:  The previous season’s State Runner-up has returned the following season to win the next state championship just once in D-III. Divine Child — runner-up in 2001 — won a 2002 state championship by defeating none other than East Grand Rapids. The Pioneers will look to become the first Grand Rapids-based program to win a state title in 13 years, hoping to join GRCC who won the D-III championship in 2011.

Bay Reps

‘23-24 Record: 18-8-2
Division MPR: 9th
Goal Differential: +55
Record vs. Top 25: 2-7-2
Key Wins: 5-2 W over East Grand Rapids (1/13), 5-0 W over GRCC (12/9), 3-2 W over Cranbrook (11/17)
Key Losses: 7-1 L to OLSM (2/17), 6-1 L to Brighton (2/3), 4-2 L to Hartland (2/2)
Top Performers: Senior forward Grant Lucas, senior forward Thomas Boynton-Fisher, senior forward Ethan Coleman, senior forward Larson Millar
Stat of the Season: Grant Lucas, Thomas Boynton-Fisher and Ethan Coleman are the only trio in the Final Four with 40 points apiece. Their combined 78 goals scored account for 65 percent of the Bay Reps’ total offense this season. Add in Larson Millar to the equation, and 24 of the last 33 goals scored by the Reps have come from just four players.

Cranbrook

‘23-24 Record: 14-13-1
Division MPR: 15th
Goal Differential: -2
Record vs. Top 25: 
Key Wins: 3-0 W over Riverview Gabriel Richard (3/2), 3-0 W over OLSM (2/7), 3-2 W over Riverview Gabriel Richard (12/2)
Key Losses: 3-1 L to DCC (1/19), 6-3 L to Trenton (12/6), 3-0 L to Brother Rice (2/8)
Top Performers: Junior forward Nick Timko, senior defenseman Roman CiccoStat of the Season: No program in Michigan high school hockey has won more state championships than Cranbrook (18). This is the Cranes’ first appearance in the Final Four after having a sub-.500 record in the regular season. If Cranbrook can win its 19th state championship, it would result in the team’s longest win streak of ‘23-24 (five games).