HOWELL — It’s been a light schedule in terms of volume and competition for Howell’s hockey team since it returned from the Upper Peninsula, but that’s about to change.
Playing only their second game in the last 18 days, the third-ranked Highlanders coasted to an 8-0 victory over the Livonia Red Stallions Wednesday at 140 Ice Den.
Their only other game since concluding their U.P. trip Nov. 23 in Houghton was an 8-0 rout of Canton on Dec. 4.
“We had a 10-day layoff, then a seven-day layoff between games,” Howell coach Keith Robertson said. “It really comes back to leadership on the team. Some of the guys have been through the grind before. They raise the level of practice and make sure our practices are as difficult, if not more difficult, than games. That’s how you prepare.”
While the Kensington Lakes Activities Association is one of the top hockey leagues in Michigan, Canton and Livonia are two of the league’s rare struggling programs. Livonia is 1-7, while Canton is 2-6.
The schedule will ramp up for Howell with four games in eight days Saturday at No. 1 (Division 3) Orchard Lake St. Mary’s, Dec. 18 at No. 4 (Division 1) Brighton, Dec. 20 against No. 5 (Division 2) Byron Center and Dec. 21 against No. 9 (Division 2) Grandville.
The Highlanders’ first game after Christmas break is Jan. 4 at home against Flint Powers Catholic, the No. 2 team in Division 2.
“It gets into a tough part of the schedule and really going forward at this point, other than Christmas break,” Robertson said. “January is a really busy month for us, as well. It’s good the boys are ready. Yesterday’s practice was pretty competitive. You can practice and you can practice hard, but these guys are ready to battle.”
Livonia put a scare into Brighton one week earlier, tying the game 3-3 late in the third period before Tim Peterson scored two goals in the final two minutes to give the Bulldogs a 5-3 victory.
There was no threat of an upset against Howell. Dylan Flamini scored 2 minutes and 44 seconds into the game and Josh Spencer scored the first of his back-to-back goals to give the Highlanders a 2-0 lead after one period.
RELATED: New Brighton hockey goalie embraces pressure of following three-time all-stater
RELATED: Hartland’s ‘dirty goal guy’ benefiting from trial run as freshman
Spencer made it 3-0 at 4:10 of the second. The Highlanders gradually pulled away from there.
Ben Huotari, Bryce Eskola, Marco Wolf, Luke Storm and Rory Sturos scored Howell’s other goals.
“It’s nice to see them come out and take care of business,” Robertson said. “We had seven different goal scorers, which is always nice to see as a coach.”
Contact Bill Khan at wkhan@gannett.com. Follow him on X @BillKhan
