Hockey Players ‘Invading’ High School Golf
Some golf coaches welcome hockey players with wide open arms
By Tom Lang
As the Michigan seasons shift from winter to spring, some high school golf teams are a little more eager than others for the hockey season to officially end.
This is especially true for the school golf programs in Brighton, Hartland and Muskegon Mona Shores as a few examples – who love having hockey players transition from the indoor frozen ice to play golf outdoors on the lush green grass.
“I would take a golf team full of hockey players any day,” said Hartland golf coach Nathan Oake. “I love them.”
He better, because his program is full of them.
Hartland and Brighton each have eight hockey players on their varsity and JV rosters.
Mona Shores has three hockey players this year, but usually has more. In 2023 it’s Oliver MacDonald (all-state honorable mention in hockey), Nathan McNarland and Nicholas Taylor, who was voted Division 1 all-state golf last spring, leading his team to No. 5 at the state finals.
Brighton golfer Winston Lerch was also Div. 1 All-State last year in golf and was an assistant captain on the hockey team this winter that placed state champ runner up to Detroit Catholic Central.
Joining Lerch in the Bulldog golf program are hockey players like Levi Pennala, winner of the Wall Award sponsored by State Champs, as the top high school goalie. Pennala finished in the top 30 last year at the golf state finals – then early this spring when he was away at a high-level junior hockey tournament, freshman hockey player Adam Forcier stepped in and shot a school record 18-hole round for a freshman at 73. Jacob Daavetilla also sneaks into the starting lineup at times.
Forcier tied the record of Davis Codd – who as a pro hockey player on leave from the Saginaw Spirit OHL hockey team when Covid shut down the league – won the MHSAA Div. 1 golf state final in 2021 for Brighton.
Brighton golf coach Jimmy Dewling said Codd was one of the earliest to prove to others you can play both hockey and golf and excel. In fact, that June in 2021, Codd went to an NHL scouting camp in Pennsylvania before the golf state finals, drove overnight back to Forest Akers to play the two state final rounds, won the title, then immediately returned to PA to resume the hockey camp.
“On our team, we believe, and TBone (Codd) was a perfect example of it, if there’s any time you have the opportunity to be competitive, it is going to make you a more well-rounded competitor and therefore better at your particular sport,” Dewling said recently.
“We like hockey players. In the winter, they have to think to where the puck is going, be smart enough to react, and understand how that emotion is going to carry over from one play to the next. When it’s your shift you have to forget about the last shift, or take something from the last shift and put it into the next shift, to have consistent play.
“It’s the same on the golf course,” Dewling continued. “It’s one hole to the next, one shot at a time, being tough, and that’s only going to come from competition reps. We love the athletic ability more so than anything, the toughness and competitiveness all year.”
In addition to Lerch and Pennala starting on varsity golf, they are joined by traditional golfers Matt Doyle, Riley Morton and Andrew Daily, who is committed to Wayne State and is the reigning Div. 1 golf state runner up from 2022. More recently, the team won an April 24 tournament played at Oakland Hills North Course versus many state-ranked teams.
Oake admitted that this is a rebuilding year for Hartland’s golf program. The varsity lineup only has two returning players with any varsity golf experience – Keller King and Brady Betteley.
“So, we opted to keep a group of tough competitors with a solid combination of speed and strength – and who are not concerned about the cold conditions that we play in,” Oake quipped.
Five others rotate into the golf starting lineup with King and Betteley: Isaac Frantti is an All-State Hockey Defensemen playing his first season of golf but shot a career low 79 at American Dunes recently. He just signed a USPHL tender to play in Connecticut next year. Ian Kastamo scored the winning goal in Hartland’s team state championship in 2022, and LJ Sabala, a varsity hockey player as well.
Then there are two non-hockey freshman getting shots to start occasionally – Dallas Korponic, who finished 3rd in the wrestling state finals, and Michael Maurin. Five more sophomores and juniors are hockey players on the JV golf team.
“We hope to be competitive with (Brighton) again soon, but they have the talent to make a big splash this year,” Oake said. “I also play golf at the same club as many Brighton players so I see them quite a bit and we are friendly. When the Brighton team walked by our team on a recent Monday and all said hello to me and our guys – one of my players looked at me and said that this was the biggest difference between hockey and golf. In hockey – the small talk would be (traded) for the ice, and it would not be very nice out there.
“Either way, I believe both sports are filled with fierce competitors and respect, but when the game is over a handshake and a golf hat tip are offered to the victor.”
