Published: March 26, 2008 09:45 am         

7 schools look at co-op hockey

TRAVERSE CITY -- For a lot of small-school students with aspirations of playing high school hockey, an answer may be coming.

Seven area schools are in the preliminary stages of forming a co-op hockey team similar to the Bay Reps.

"In one way, shape or form, I think we're going to see another team," Benzie Central athletic director Karen Leinaar said.

The athletic directors from Glen Lake, Traverse City Christian, Benzie Central and Kingsley met earlier this month to discuss the proposal. Grand Traverse Academy, Traverse City Prep and Frankfort have also expressed interest.

"We're having lots of conversations about it," Leinaar said. "There's a group of schools that have a lot of kids who want to play hockey."

One of those is Traverse City Christian's David Voorheis.

Voorheis was hoping to play hockey at Lansing Christian before the Pilgrims dropped the sport.

His family moved to Traverse City and the junior thought he'd still have to do without the sport when he enrolled at TC Christian.

"Then I heard Mr. (Mike) Polomsky talking about a possible co-op," Voorheis said, "and I butted in and said, 'Hey, I play hockey.' "

The goalie had played Bantam in Lansing, and hopes he can play between the pipes again next year as a senior.

"It'd be awesome, amazing," Voorheis said.

Benzie Central freshman Connor Lehn, who plays Bantam hockey in the Grand Traverse Hockey Association, agreed.

"I'm looking forward to it," he said. "That's (team next season) what we're hoping for."

Mark Olmstead said the desire for a hockey team is something that has been a constant in his six years as Kingsley's athletic director.

"One of the big pushes right away when I got here was to have a hockey team," Olmstead said. "But when we asked around, Glen Lake was one of the only ones interested back then. But now with more schools interested, we can maybe get this done."

Olmstead has notified Kingsley's board of education, but the group hasn't been able to vote on anything yet. The Stags already have one other co-op team, with their athletes playing on Forest Area's girls soccer team.

Kingsley has had students transfer out in order to play hockey at other high schools.

Traverse City Prep -- a 54-student first-year school that offers basketball, track, cross country and volleyball -- is supportive of joining the co-op, athletic director Kile Charnes said.

Charnes said at least two and possibly four students from TC Prep have expressed interest in trying out for the team.

"We all have to get our numbers together -- how many (players) we have now and down the line -- and go from there," Leinaar said.

The team could play a junior varsity schedule, but Leinaar and the other athletic directors seem determined to field a varsity team next season.

Not surprisingly, cash-strapped schools don't want to fund the team, so it would have to be supported by a booster club, much like the Bay Reps, a four school co-op team (Kalkaska, St. Francis, Elk Rapids and Suttons Bay) that started up in 2000 -- and went 26-1-1 mark in its second season.

The club could practice and play its games at several area rinks -- Centre ICE or Howe Arena most likely, or even the Kaliseum in Kalkaska or West Shore Ice Arena in Scottville -- or a combination of those.

Centre ICE director Terry Marchand said blocks of ice time are available, but not at ideal hours, often coming in mid-evening.

The Reps ran into the same obstacles early on, having their Monday practices at 9:30 p.m. for the first year.

Bay Reps head coach Rex Luxton, who has guided the team from its first season, said issues such as start-up money and school board approval are the first things to take care of, but those are followed quickly by finding a coach and hammering out a schedule.

"We were just taking games anywhere we could get," Luxton said of the Reps' first season. "We opened the season (four hours away) in Port Huron."

Leinaar said the start-up costs are one of the big hurdles.

Team can pick up some used equipment such as goalie gear, pucks and pads, but new uniforms will be costly. Then there's the cost of paying coaches, transporting players to road contests, ice time and other miscellaneous equipment.

She estimated the start-up costs at $60,000 to $100,000.

According to Luxton, the Reps got started with $40,000 -- eight years ago.

Polomsky, the athletic director at TC Christian and an assistant coach with the Reps, estimated the ice time alone will cost the team $12,000 to 14,000.

The Reps went to their respective school boards for approval in April of 2000 and had a team on the ice the following November.

"We're on their track and we didn't know that when we started," Leinaar said.

Another positive is that most hockey parents are already familiar with the financial requirements of the sport.

"They're used to doing that, all the fund-raising and money involved," Polomsky said.

Polomsky said the team could also help schools retain student-athletes who might otherwise transfer to another institution in order to be able to play their sport.

"Everything I've heard from the other schools is positive," said Polomsky.

Another decision that would have to be made is which school will serve as the host. That school will have to handle most of the administrative duties with the Michigan High School Athletic Association.

Co-op teams in Michigan are limited to a total enrollment of 3,500 students. That rule was added several years ago, and forced some large teams to break up, such as Traverse City's swimming squad, which is now split into separate teams for Central and West, although the two squads regularly attend the same events and travel together.

Last year, the dividing line between hockey's Divisions 1 and 2 was 1,975 students.

The seven-school team would have a total enrollment of 1,796, based on 2007-08 figures.

MHSAA assistant director Randy Allen said co-op teams have to renew their co-op every two years to ensure that all the schools involved still support the team.

Hockeytowns

Schools involved in the newest proposed TC-area co-op hockey team:

^ Approx. miles to Centre ICE.
* Based on 2007-08 figures.