Though the 2022-23 high school winter season closed, Clarkston Varsity Hockey players and coaches recently celebrated All-State honors.
Ron Wade and Theo Walker received All-State First Team honors. Evan Adams, Devon Collis and Calum Hartner received All-State Second Team honors.
Collis, Walker, Marek Drennan, Dutch Snyder and Tyler Wilford maintained a grade point average of 3.5 to be named Academic All-State.
Players weren’t the only ones receiving honors. Nathan Bryer, head coach and Clarkston High School graduate, was named Division 1 Coach of the Year for the season by his peers of the Michigan High School Hockey Coaches Association.
Bryer has often reflected “it’s all about the kids.” In receiving Coach of the Year, he shared he is humbled and honored for the praise from his peers.
The Wolves wrapped the season with an overall 20-3-2 record, finishing 8-1-1 in the league to claim their sixth Oakland Activities Association Championship in the Red Division.
Players are getting ready for the next chapters of their lives. Recent graduates Walker, Collis and Drennan head to college in the next few weeks.
Walker is attending Wayne State University in the fall where he is going to study pre-law. Collis heads to Western Michigan University to play on the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) Division 1 team. Drennan is moving on to play for Concordia College in Ann Arbor.
Returning for the 2023-24 year are Adams for his senior year as well as Hartner and Wade for their junior year.
Though the winter season is months away, the expectations are high as a new and higher bar has been set.
“We want to always be in the conversation for a state title come the end of each season,” said Bryer.
Bryer returns as head coach with assistant coach Adam Larkin, also All-State player and graduate of CHS who was a four year starter at Yale University.
Assistant Coach Vinny Post, another CHS graduate and a four-year starter at Adrian College, steps down from his position.
Filling his shoes is Adam Krefski, former head coach for crosstown rival Lake Orion. A Michigan native, he brings three years of Junior A experience, as well as three years of ACHA Division 1 experience with Lindenwood University. While at the helm for Lake Orion, he compiled a 75-46-4 record, adding two OAA Red Division championships. He is currently working with the summer high school team. He also coaches in the Michigan Hockey Advancement program, a division of Total Performance Hockey. Krefski is also Michigan scout for the NAHL Odessa Jackalopes, a Texas Junior A team.

– Jack Leech

From left, Clarkston Varsity Hockey Assistant Coach Adam Larkin, Ron Wade, Theo Walker, Marek Drennan, Devon Collis, Calum Hartner and Clarkston Varsity Hockey Head Coach Nathan Bryer celebrate the slew of Wolves’ All-State hockey selections for the 2022-23 season. Photo: Jack Leech