Howell wins first regional hockey championship in four years
EAST LANSING — Not every hockey team that was expected to win a regional championship this week is still alive in the state tournament.
Nine No. 1 seeds out of 24 regions have been ousted, including prohibitive favorites like Birmingham Brother Rice, Warren De La Salle and Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central.
So, even though Howell was favored to win the Division 1 regional at Munn Ice Arena, earning the championship wasn’t a given for the only state-ranked team in the field.
Howell overcame a tough goaltender to beat the Eastside Stars, a co-op sponsored by Okemos, by a 3-1 score Wednesday night.
The fifth-ranked Highlanders peppered Stars goalie Reed Drouare with 50 shots, while Howell goalie Andrew Klei faced only 16.
“We played with speed and we generated a lot of good opportunities,” Howell coach Rocky Johnson said. “We ran into a really good kid who could stop the puck. I don’t want to say he was a hot goalie; we missed the net quite a few times. He was the difference maker for them.”
The championship was the first since 2020 and second in the last 14 seasons for Howell (18-8-1). In all, the program has six regional titles.
Howell led 2-0 after one period on goals by Cade Katlin at 8:10 and Rory Sturos at 13:27.
Eastside cut the deficit to 2-1 on a goal by Jonny Stohr at 2:34 of the second. Defenseman Landen Switala restored Howell’s two-goal lead by scoring five minutes later.
Howell will return to Munn to face fourth-ranked Clarkston, a 5-2 winner over Hartland, in a Division 1 quarterfinal at 4 p.m. Saturday. The winner would likely face the Brighton-Livonia Stevenson, depending on seedings, in the state semifinals March 8 at USA Hockey Arena.
The Highlanders haven’t faced Clarkston (21-5-1) this season.
“I’ve watched several games of theirs on video,” Johnson said. “They’re very strong, very skilled. They’re what I would call a Big Ten football style hockey team. They play hard, they play tough, they play physical and they’re a good hockey team. We have everything we need in our tool bag to have success against them.”
Contact Bill Khan at wkhan@gannett.com. Follow him on X @BillKhan
This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: Howell beats Eastside Stars for first regional hockey title in 4 years
