Farmington Hills, Farmington

Cream of the crop

By Mike Moore
C & G Sports Writer

Farmington hockey teams holding top spots in the OAA standings

By Mike Moore

C & G Sports Writer


FARMINGTON HILLS — If Mark Vellucci and Ken Anderson have their way, Feb. 20 is going to be a very special night at the Farmington Hills Ice Arena.

If Vellucci and Anderson have their way, it’s also going to be a very loud, very crowded and even a bit historic.

“I think everybody is keeping their fingers crossed for that game,” said Vellucci, the head coach of the Farmington High hockey team. “That’d be unlike anything else.”

“That’d be (the) best-case scenario,” said Anderson, the head man on the Farmington Hills Unified bench. “It’s something we’re certainly hoping for.”

Vellucci and Anderson are in charge of two of the hottest teams in the Oakland Activities Association. At press time, the Falcons were 8-3-1 overall, 6-1-1 in OAA Red play, and four points ahead of the Unified squad, which was 8-3-1 overall and 4-1-1 with two games in hand.

If the winning ways for both teams continue, as many expect they will, that Feb. 20 date, when they meet for the second and final time of the regular season, will determine the OAA Red champion.

Unified won the first time they met 3-0, scoring three times in the third period of a Nov. 25 match up. Though Unified got the best of things that night, the high level of hockey being played in the Farmington district right now is exciting for the community.

“It’s absolutely great,” Anderson said. “You look at the standings and you see the two of us at the top. It’s pretty cool. It shows the quality of hockey players this area has and is producing.”

“I think it’s awesome for both programs and the whole area,” Vellucci said. “A lot of these guys grew up playing together and are good friends.”

Winning isn’t the only common thread, either.

When asked about their individual teams, each coach gave very similar answers as to why the victories have piled up.

“Our overall team depth has been awesome,” Vellucci said of his squad, which had won six of seven games at press time. “We have six senior defensemen, a junior goalie who has played incredible and four quality forward lines who have scored some very big goals for us. More or less, everyone is contributing right now.”

Farmington’s last loss was a 3-2 setback to Beverly Hills Detroit Country Day Dec. 12. Since then, the Falcons have been able to win close games — 2-1 against Rochester Hills Stoney Creek — and have had a flair for the explosive, scoring 19 goals in a three-game span.

“The guys realize we have a good thing going here,” Vellucci said. “We’re trying to roll with this as far as we can.”

As for the Unified squad, which had also won six of its past seven games at press time, the reasons were very similar.

“We’ve got 20 guys out there every night working together,” Anderson said. “I don’t think we’ve won too many games on pure talent. We tend to outwork teams to get what we want.”

And while Vellucci and Anderson quickly admitted the rivalry between the teams is solid, both coaches said they can’t help but root for the other, in all but two games a year, that is.

“When we play against them, you want to beat them. But in every other game, you can’t help but pull for them to win,” Vellucci said.

“No question we love when those guys win,” Anderson said. “Aside from those times we play them, you have to pull for them.”

One of those times will be Feb. 20.

Just what is on the line a month from now remains to be seen.

“It’s going to be fun either way,” Vellucci said. “Both teams are looking forward to it.”

You can reach C & G Sports Writer Mike Moore at mmoore@candgnews.com or at (586)498-1038.