Newcomer Pietila filling scoresheet for Hartland hockey

CHELSEA – As linemates go, they don’t get much better on the high school hockey level than Luke Cowan.

Cowan was one of the top scorers in Michigan as a senior last season, making the exclusive All-State Dream Team for Hartland last season.

Josh Albring was a beneficiary of skating with Cowan – and vice versa.

So, when Albring says that senior newcomer Jed Pietila might be even a little bit better than Cowan, it speaks volumes about the talent level of his new linemate.

“Luke last year, he could play all the way up and down the ice, and so can Jed,” Albring said following a 16-0 rout of Pinckney on Tuesday night at the Arctic Coliseum. “Jed just has an extra step in the offensive zone. His offensive awareness is unbelievable.”

Pietila had a goal and six assists, while Albring and Spencer Andersen each had three goals and two assists.

In three games, Pietila has two goals and 12 assists to lead the Eagles in scoring, while Albring is next with six goals and six assists.

Pietila decided to come out for the high school team after playing at the AAA travel level his first three seasons at Hartland. He was a regular spectator at the Eagles’ games, dating back to his freshman year when his brother Brent was a senior goalie on a team that reached the state Division 2 championship game.

Albring made the jump from AAA to high school as a sophomore last season, and has said that he’s had more contact with junior scouts than he had when he was playing in the travel ranks. That made an impression with Pietila.

“Just the amount of looks Josh was getting and the fact you can go a different path,” Pietila said. “It’s not just AAA; you can go through separate paths.

“Since my freshman year, I always watched games and it’s been like, ‘Hey, this looks fun.’ It’s definitely fun.”

Hartland coach Rick Gadwa said he’s been working on getting Pietila to play for him since his freshman year.

“Finally, his fourth year, we were able to lock him up,” Gadwa said. “The goal for him is to come here and have the most successful season he’s had as a hockey player and then to move on to junior and then to college. I take that as a personal goal of mine to help him get there.  I’ll do everything in my power to help him do that.”

Hartland is off to a 3-0 start, having opened the season with victories over Division 3 powers Houghton and Hancock last weekend in the Upper Peninsula.

The Eagles are a team with state championship aspirations. Pinckney is just trying to get better with a young team that opened the season with a victory over Dexter before getting outscored 25-1 in losses to Howell and Hartland.

To their credit, the Pirates have not taken a single penalty in the losses to Howell and Hartland. They also literally played to the final whistle on a Tuesday in a game that was hopelessly out of reach, as sophomore Valen LeVasseur had a breakaway in progress when the final buzzer sounded.

“We didn’t give up,” Pinckney coach Ted Kroll said. “Even at the last whistle, we were going. I didn’t see a guy give up, not skate, not backcheck. They did the stuff we need to do. These are the things that are going to make us better down the road. It’s a measuring stick for our guys to see where they’re at in the scheme of high school hockey.”

Howell skates past Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard, 5-2

It took only 18 seconds for Albring to get Hartland on the scoreboard. The Eagles never let up, building a 10-0 lead after one period. They popped in six more goals in a second period that was played with a running clock. The eight-goal mercy rule finally kicked in after two periods.

Fourteen Eagles had at least one point, with 11 scoring goals.

Joe Larson had two goals and one assist. Maurice Letourneau, Jacob Behnke, Gabe Anderson, Joe Burrill, Brenden Tulpa, Lars Storm and Jake DeYoung also had goals.

Brett Tome faced only two shots in registering the shutout.