From The Detroit Jewish News
By Steve Stein
Ex-Novi High School hockey team star Lucas Hutten is headed to Mount Pleasant to play for Central Michigan.
Add another Jewish athlete to Central Michigan University’s sports rosters.
Lucas Hutten, captain of the Novi High School hockey team last season, has joined Central Michigan’s club hockey team, which has played in the American Collegiate Hockey Association national tournament five straight years.
Central Michigan basketball recruit Noah Adamczyk, a 6-foot guard who is the all-time leading scorer in Bloomfield Hills High School basketball history and a two-time All-State honoree, also is a newly minted Chippewa.
“Central Michigan is a good school where I can pursue a career in physical therapy, it’s a big school, and it’s close to home. Only two hours from Novi,” Hutten said.
“I wanted to play club hockey in college because there are club teams at big schools. I didn’t want to play for a Division III hockey program because it would be at a small school, probably somewhere out East.”
The Central Michigan club hockey team, the university’s only hockey team, plays its home games at Martin Ice Arena in Mount Pleasant and in the Michigan Collegiate Athletic Conference, so all of its conference games are in-state.
The Chippewas will make their semi-annual trip to southwest Florida this season, facing Florida Gulf Coast on Dec. 1 and 2.
A big enticement for Hutten to go to Central Michigan was Brennan Martin, the Chippewas’ coach.
Like Hutten, Martin is a former Novi defenseman who served as the team captain as a senior (that was in the 2015-16 season) and went on to play at Central Michigan.
Martin became Central Michigan’s interim coach late last year after being an assistant coach for Eastern Michigan University’s club hockey team. He was promoted to Central Michigan coach this spring.
“You could say the Novi hockey team is a pipeline for our team,” Martin said. “We’ve had six guys from Novi play on our team in the last 10 years or so, including four on this season’s team.”
Hutten sent an email to the Central Michigan club hockey coaching staff expressing his interest in the team a few weeks before the annual Novi-Northville rivalry hockey game held during Thanksgiving break.
The game is always played in front of a packed house at the Novi Ice Arena, where both Novi and Northville play their home games.
Novi hockey alumni are known to return home en masse for the game, so Martin was there that night last November. He also was there as a scout for the Central Michigan hockey team.
“I saw Lucas play and talked to him after the game,” Martin said.
Hutten said he didn’t know Martin was coming to the game.
A few months later, on April 23, Hutten attended an open tryout for the Central Michigan club team in Mount Pleasant. He was offered a roster spot and accepted it that day.
“We’re glad to have Lucas,” Martin said. “Like the other Novi players, he’ll provide great leadership for us. He’s a stay-at-home defenseman with offensive capabilities. That’s a great combination.”
The minimum age for a collegiate club hockey player is 18. Hutten won’t turn 18 until Nov. 7, so he’ll miss Central Michigan’s September, October and early November games.
He’ll finally be eligible for a Nov. 17-18 series against Adrian.
Sitting out that time is both a positive and a negative for Hutten.
“Lucas will be able to practice with us during that time, and he’ll sit with our coaches during games,” Martin said. “He’s a freshman. There will be growing pains for him moving up to this level of hockey. He’ll get a good look at it while he’s sitting out without being thrown into a game.”
Hutten acknowledged those positives, but he’d rather play.
“It sucks, but it’s only a couple months out of four years,” he said.
Unlike many other club sports in college, there is a high level of skill in club hockey and a major time commitment is required.
“Hockey is the furthest thing from a collegiate club sport that you can imagine,” Martin said. “Our guys are on the ice four to five days a week during the season, and we play on weekends. We’ll play 30-40 games, including the post-season.
“The guys will get a degree, which is the most important reason why they’re here, but they won’t have as much personal time as other students.”
Central Michigan club hockey players can receive only academic scholarships, and each player is responsible for annual team dues that help fund the student-run program.
Hutten played hockey for Detroit last summer in the JCC Maccabi Games in San Diego, joining with players from other delegations to form a team.
This summer, he was on one of four teams that played in Michigan Elite Hockey’s Junior Prospects League at the Kensington Valley Ice House in Brighton.
His team, which also included Jewish defenseman Clay Hartje from Detroit Country Day, made it to the league championship game, but lost.
“The competition in that league was great,” Hutten said. “There were college and junior players and guys who want to play the next level.
“I tried out for the league last year, but I wasn’t drafted. So I was a sub. I really wanted to play in the league this summer and made it this time.”
(Originally published at https://www.thejewishnews.com/sports/lucas-hutten-heads-mount-pleasant-to-play-for-central-michigan/article_e86d1c84-262f-11ee-a2a8-abb1a1a18ac1.html)
