High school hockey weekly power rankings

With the onset of the 2011-12 hockey season, C & G Hockey Writer Mike Moore has once again put together power rankings for the teams in our coverage area.

There’s no special equation or formula used, just a weekly idea of the top eight squads from the Michigan Intercollegiate Hockey League, Macomb Area Conference, Oakland Activities Association, Michigan Metro Hockey League and independent teams.

New rankings, as well as insight as to why each team is where, will appear every week throughout the season leading up to the playoffs in late February.

Records are updated through the day rankings were posted.

All logos were provided by their respective teams and leagues.

You can reach Sports Writer Mike Moore at mmoore@cangnews.com

Moore Power Rankings: Final post of the '11-12 season (updated Feb. 26)

For hockey fans near and far, this is the best part of the year, hands down. Yet, on the eve of the postseason starting, we’ll take one look back at the regular season that was and rank our top-eight local teams.

During the year we rank all teams in divisions we cover, even if they sit outside our coverage area, but this overall ranking, we’ll keep in mind just those within our paper borders. Thanks for reading this all year, and best of luck to everyone in the playoffs.

Just for fun, here are my picks for state champs. Division 1, Catholic Central. D-2 goes to Brother Rice, and in a thrilling final in D-3, Calumet defeats Cranbrook.

Remember to follow me on Twitter at @CandGMike for updates the next two weeks.
 

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Final ranking	Playoff Division
1	1		Novi Detroit Catholic Central (19-3-1-1 overall, 14-2-1-1 MIHL)	From start to finish, the Shamrocks were simply one of the best teams in the state, again. Tough to argue the top overall ranking considering CC won the MIHL this year, won 19 games and is one of a handful of teams that expects to be at Compuware next weekend. A great regular season that won’t get easy come playoff time, though. The Blue and White open the D-1 tourney Feb. 27 against Northville, and with a win will likely see Novi High, defending D-1 champ, in the regional semifinals.
2	2		Brother Rice (19-4-1-0 overall, 13-4-1-0 MIHL)	Another 19-win team from within the MIHL, Rice’s season was nothing short of spectacular. The Warriors finished on a 14-0-1 streak and may just have Mr. Hockey, Mackenzie MacEachern. Rice starts the D-2 playoffs Tuesday against Royal Oak and would likely face De La Salle in a regional final. MacEachern said earlier this year that one of the biggest reason’s he returned as a senior was to win a state title. After falling in last year’s finals, expect Rice to be back at Compuware again.
3	3		Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood (16-5-1-2 overall, 13-4-0-1 MIHL)	If we could hand out a Coach of the Year award with these rankings, Andy Weidenbach would get it in a heartbeat. The Cranes’ head man was working with his youngest roster ever, and all he did was place second in the MIHL, win 16 games and mold his group into a favorite in the D-3 bracket. The Cranes should roll through the first couple rounds of the playoffs, setting up a quarterfinal date against Liggett.
4	3		University Liggett (12-2-0 overall, Independent)	Speaking of the Knights, what a year they had. Some may argue that fourth is too high of a ranking considering Liggett is an independent team and plays a less-challenging schedule, but it’s hard to argue with an 18-game winning streak to close out the regular season. Should they meet, Cranbrook would be favored in the quarterfinal, but the Knights have the offensive firepower to play with just about anyone.
5	1		Lake Orion High (14-7-3 overall, 8-0-2  OAA Red)	The Dragons won the OAA Red Division title and then won the OAA Red postseason tournament. Not bad for a team that reached the state semifinals a year ago. A return trip to Compuware won’t be easy. After opening with Lapeer, Lake Orion would face Clarkston in the regional semifinal, a team they’ve beaten twice, albeit in a pair of one-goal games.
6	1		Macomb Dakota (19-3-2 overall, 8-1-1 MAC Red)	Talk about pressure packed, the Cougars had to win a pair of games in regulation in the final week of the season to win a MAC Red title. And that’s exactly what they did. They won 19 games this season because of an offense that can score (5.3 goals per game) and a defense that was suffocating (2 goals against). After beating Eisenhower in the final game of the season to win the Red, the teams meet again to open the playoffs Feb. 27.
7	2		Grosse Pointe South  (17-5-1 overall, 12-0-1 Metro East)	By far the best season for James Bufalino since he took over at South. The Blue Devils rolled through the Metro, as they should have, but also played and beat some big teams along the way. I’d love to see them join the MIHL in the near future, though no plans have been made public of such a move…yet.
8	1		Berkley-Ferndale Unified (20-2-2 overall,  10-0-2 OAA White)	An 18-win Eisenhower team from the MAC Red could have taken the eighth spot, but Berkley gets the nod thanks to its 20-2-2 record and 9-2-1 mark to close out the year. The Bears have an excellent shot to get to a D-1 regional final, where they’d likely see Orchard Lake St. Mary’s. However long the postseason lasts, it was a great ride for Jeff Fleming and his guys.

In the conversation:  Eisenhower, Country Day, St. Clair Shores Unified, Orchard Lake St. Mary's
 

Follow Mike on Twitter @CandGMike

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