Catching with past winners of Michigan's Mr. Hockey award, which goes to the state's best High School player.

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1 Catching with past winners of Michigan's Mr. Hockey award, which goes to the state's best High School player. For the past 16 years, the top High School hockey player in Michigan has been honored by the Michigan High School Hockey Coaches Associations. These players have gone on to play Junior hockey, play in college, play professionally and some have even made it to the National Hockey League. Most importantly, many have gone on to productive post-hockey lives and careers. Here is the list, which will add another name in March: 1994 Dale Rominski, Birmingham Brother Rice The first-ever Mr. Hockey was Brother Rice s Rominski, who had 25 goals and 20 assists in 25 games his senior year. After High School he moved on to Detroit Compuware of the North American Junior Hockey League in , where he tallied 42 points in 40 games. Rominski then played four years at the University of Michigan, where he helped the Wolverines win national championships in 1996 and Rominski then made it to the NHL, playing three games with the Tampa Bay Lighting and nearly two full seasons with the now defunct Detroit Vipers of the old International Hockey League. After the team and league folded in 2001, Rominski began to coach youth hockey and eventually went on to coach the Ann Arbor Huron Varsity hockey team. He is now married and is a father. 1 / 10

2 1995 Mike Jalaba, Birmingham Brother Rice Jalaba played two seasons for the Michigan State Spartans, appearing in 17 games. He is now an RN with Vital Therapies Inc. in San Diego, according to his Facebook page Jason Durbin, Trenton After winning Mr. Hockey at Trenton, Durbin went onto play junior hockey for Detroit Compuware and Danville. After his two-year stint in Junior hockey, Durbin attended Wayne State University where he shined instantly. He led his team in scoring is his first three seasons tallying 29, 31, and 34 points respectively. He scored a career high 47 points his senior season while wearing the c and led the team to its only NCAA Tournament appearance in 2003, when WSU played and lost to Colorado College in a first-round game at Ann Arbor's Yost Ice Arena. Durbin is now an insurance agent for the E. W. Smith Insurance Agency in Flat Rock. 2 / 10

3 1997 Scott Curtin, Catholic Central Curtin was a pioneer of sorts when he played for Catholic Central. He left his AAA team and bought into Michigan High School Hockey. His actions popularized many future decisions by hockey players at Catholic Central to play for their High School, according to Catholic Central coach Todd Johnson. Curtin went on to play at Middlebury, helping it win two of its five straight NCAA Division III National Titles from He is now an underwriter at Axiom Insurance Company in Chicago and plays hockey in a men's league and in the annual U.S. Pond Hockey Championships in Minnesota Bob Rangus, Calumet Rangus played two seasons in the North American Hockey League with the Soo Indians before attending Michigan Tech. Rangus played the next two seasons at Tech. He left school early and played on 3 / 10

4 numerous teams in professional leagues based mostly in the south. He played for the Knoxville Ice Bears of the South Eastern Hockey League, the Cincinnati Cyclones of the East Coast Hockey League, the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees of the Central Hockey League, and he spent another two-year stint with the Knoxville Ice Bears of the newly formed Southern Professional Hockey League Keith Rowe, Catholic Central Rowe was just a roll player on the Shamrocks 1997 state championship team. He went from being just a roll player to a skill player who led, Johnson said. He worked hard to get to that level. years. Rowe played in the NAHL and went to Alabama-Huntsville, where he played three 2000 Andy Greene, Trenton 4 / 10

5 Greene went on to play two years for Compuware in the NAHL and then received a scholarship to play at Miami of Ohio, where he was an All-American. He has played for the NHL's New Jersey Devils for the last four seasons Jared Ross, Catholic Central Went on to play four years at Alabama-Huntsville for his father, Doug, and was a two-time All-American with 119 points in 103 games. He was unique from the standpoint that he went directly from High School to college and succeeded immediately as well, said Johnson. Ross set an American Hockey League All-Star game record for points in a game last season. He also played 10 games for the Philadelphia Flyers and recorded his first NHL goal in a playoff game versus Pittsburgh. He has played most of this season with the AHL's Adirondack Phantoms but has played three games with the Flyers / 10

6 John Kim, Cranbrook Kim went on to play in the United States Hockey League with the Tulsa Crude and then played at Babson College. In his freshman season he had 26 points in 22 games, while achieving East Coast Athletic Conference (ECAC) Rookie of the week honors three times. He led his team in scoring the next two seasons with 37 and 42 points respectively. He graduated in 2005 and is currently the Eastern Regional Manager for a company called SolidWorks Corporation, which is a 3D CAD company Will Wallace, Cranbrook Wallace was a four-year letterman at Cranbrook and was also Michigan's Mr. Lacrosse. After high school, Wallace attended Hotchkiss School as a post-grad where he played both hockey and lacrosse. He entered the U.S. Naval Academy where he played lacrosse and was named 2007 Pre-Season All American and 2006 First Team All-Patriot League. After graduation he was assigned to the USS RENTZ out of San Diego, which was deployed for six months to the Arabian Gulf with the NIMITZ Strike Group. He was promoted to LTJG (Lieutenant Junior Grade) and recently moved to Guam as an officer with a maritime security squadron. 6 / 10

7 2003 Andrew Eggert, Catholic Central The tough defenseman played four years and graduated from CC with a 4.5 grade point average and four state titles. Eggert then went on to the Cleveland Barons of the NAHL and then the Cedar Rapids Rough Riders of the USHL. Eggert then went to Notre Dame where again he excelled in both hockey and academics. He graduated from Notre Dame as valedictorian and when President George Bush came to visit the school, the Dean called the hockey coach to tell him that Eggert would not be making the weekend trip to play hockey. Rather, his presence was needed back in South Bend as one of the school's top students to meet and talk to the President. Eggert is now a successful financial consultant in New York City Justin Abdelkader, Muskegon Mona Shores Abdelkader needs little introduction after scoring twice in last season's Stanley Cup Finals and playing regularly for the Red Wings this season because of their rash of injuries. After high school he attended Michigan State where he was a key player for three years. 7 / 10

8 He scored the NCAA championship winning goal in his sophomore year and played his first NHL game and signed with the Red Wings, who had drafted him, immediately after his junior season Chase Langlais, Cranbrook Langlais had 44 points and was plus-55 in his senior, Mr. Hockey-winning season. After graduating from Cranbrook, Langlais played in a handful of games for the NAHL's Cleveland Barons before deciding to give up playing hockey. He is attending Lake Forest College in Illinois. His twin brother Chad, who also played at Cranbrook, is a defenseman at U-M Zach Hitch, Brighton Hitch had 58 points while leading the Bulldogs to their state championship. After graduating, he played two seasons with the Traverse City North Stars of the NAHL. 8 / 10

9 Hitch is now furthering his education at Central Michigan Andrew Miller, Cranbrook Miller was also an All-American lacrosse player and helped the Cranes win two state titles on the ice. After graduating from CK, Miller played for the Chicago Steel of the USHL for two seasons. In his second season he was USHL Player of the Year and USA Junior Player of the Year with 82 points in 52 games. Miller is a freshman at Yale this season, where he's the team's fifth leading scorer with three goals and 12 assists for 15 points in 16 games Josh Miller, Trenton He led Trenton to its first of two consecutive state championships with 46 goals and 46 assists. After graduating from Trenton, Miller went on to play for the Traverse City North Stars of 9 / 10

10 the NAHL. Last season, his first year in Junior hockey he had nine goals and six assists in 46 games. This season he has three goals and seven points in 19 games Camden Wojtala, Trenton Wojtala was drafted by the Omaha Lancers of the USHL, where he had five goals and seven assists for 12 points and was plus-12 in 32 games. 10 / 10