The Novi Information Network
   By the People, for the People, since 1998
 

 Front Page
 News
 Opinions
 Sports
 Business
 
 Features
  About Novi
  Business Directory
  Government
  Images of Novi
  Interior Line (FD)
  Inside Novi High
  Lansing Connection
  Local Links
  Mayor's Column
  Off the Cuff (PD)
  Restaurants
  Schools
  Speaking of Sports
  Worship Guide
 
 Website
  About Us
  Advertise
  Contact Us
  Donate
  Help Wanted
  Privacy Policy
 

Sports
 
Complete coverage of your Novi Wildcats

 
 

Sports News

Novi Boy's Basketball slams Plymouth 66-45
3/11/10
Novi advances to its third consecutive district final against Canton with their 21 point victory over Plymouth. Samer Ozeir had 16 and Antwan Batwo had 10. Ryan Jok had 9 boards to lead the way.

Warren DeLaSalle overpowers Novi Hockey 5-2
3/10/10  MORE

Novi Boy's Basketball slams CC 52-38, advances in Districts
3/9/10
Novi advances to play Plymouth on Wednesday in district action after defeating the Shamrocks. Novi overcame a slow start and went on a 23-5 run to end the second quarter and begin the third. Antwan Batwo had 12 points off the bench, and Samer Ozeir had 12 points all in the second half.

Wildcat Hockey defeats Hartland
4-3 for Regional Title
3/6/10
The Wildcats next take on the winner of the Brother Rice - De La Salle game, which will played Saturday afternoon. The next game, the State Quarter Final, is 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Novi.

Wildcat Hockey shows mercy on Walled Lake Northern, 11-3
3/4/10
In a game shortened by the Mercy Rule, Novi iced Walled Lake Northern 11-3. Novi takes on Hartland, next, 6:00 p.m. face-off Friday at the Novi Ice Arena. Also Wednesday, Novi CC defeated Brighton 8-0.

Novi Girl's Basketball falls to Canton, 39-37
3/4/10  MORE

Novi Boys Basketball falls to Brighton 55-46
3/3/10

Wildcat Hockey wins playoff opener 7-1 vs. Walled Lake Western
3/2/10
Novi moves on to play Walled Lake Northern in round two on Wednesday. Face-off is 6:30 p.m. at the Novi Ice Arena.

Novi Girl's BB wins opener - thanks to Madeline Sinkovich
3/2/10  MORE

Novi Boy's Basketball slams Salem 61-42
2/27/10
Novi won its 15th game of the season with an outstanding all around performance. The 'Cats led 31-10 at the half, and 52-27 at the end of the 3rd. Samer Ozeir had 20 points, and Jeremy Mims had 10 points and 6 assists. Ryan Jok led the charge at the defensive end and Chris Milon had 11 rebounds. Novi travels to Brighton Tuesday for its final regular season game.

Novi Hockey shut down by Brighton 3-0
2/26/10  MORE

Novi Girl's Varsity Basketball loses close one to Grand Blanc 38-36
2/25/10
The game was close throughout. Novi was down four at the half, and both teams held small leads in the fourth. Grand Blanc held on to win after Novi had a chance to send the game into overtime. Kelsey Masserant had 14 points, and Jessica Cingel finished with 6 points and 7 rebounds. J.V. won 44-35. Freshmen lost 35-33 in OT.

Novi's Mickie Rzepka, teammate finish 6th in bobsled competition
2/25/10  MORE

Canton defeats Novi Girl's Varsity Basketball 46-33
2/23/10  MORE
J.V. lost 54-45, and the Freshmen won in OT 54-45, shutting down Canton during overtime.

Novi's Amy Glubzinski wins dive event in Minneapolis
2/23/10
Competing at the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Association Conference Swimming and Diving Meet February 18-20, Novi HS 2007 grad Amy Glubzinski  won the 3 Meter Diving event and finished 3rd in the 1 meter event.

Novi's Mickie Rzepka, teammate sixth after two heats in bobsled
2/23/10  MORE

Emily Samuelson and partner take 11th in their first Olympics
2/22/10  MORE

Novi's Emily Samuelson talks about her Olympic experience
2/22/10  MORE

Novi Girl's Varsity Basketball defeats Lions 47-37
2/21/10
Novi led 19-9 after the first quarter. South Lyon came on stronger in the second half, but the Wildcats fought back with tough defense. Novi was led by the  Kelsey Masserant (16 points, 6 rebounds) and Caroline Johnson (15 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists). Maddie Sinkovich chipped in 6 points to help seal the victory. Novi battles Canton High School for the Conference Championship Monday, 7pm at Canton.

Novi Sports Links

Novi Athletic Boosters
Wildcat Team Schedules
 


Are your results missing? Want to add
photos? Email the info or pics to us.
We post everything we can find...
 

 

 

  

Speaking
of Sports
 
by Alex Prasad

 

Sorry Cinderella:
Why Hoosiers Can’t Happen in Michigan

March 7, 2010 

This past week was Spring Break for students at Eastern Michigan and Michigan. Some traveled to tropical destinations, some went on service trips, and some came home. I found myself spending a tropical (what great weather this past week!) week in Novi, catching up on homework and seeing a few old friends I haven’t seen in a long time.

I also got a chance to take in a Novi hockey game, specifically their 11-3 shellacking of the Walled Lake Northern Knights. The Novi student section was energetic and it was hard not to be, with its team so easily crushing the competition.

Over the last couple years I’ve traveled to countless sporting events on no less than 20 college campuses. It’s rare I hear a chant that’s new AND comedic, but with Novi up handily midway through the second period, the Novi student section began a fantastic heckle.

Yelling towards the Walled Lake Northern fans, they chanted, “We can’t hear you (clap, clap, clap clap clap), repeat, we’ll cheer for you, repeat, let’s go Northern”. It certainly made me bust out laughing.

And it was a great night for Novi hockey. They’d go on to defeat Hartland 4-3 Friday, and are set to face off against Warren De La Salle Tuesday at 6:30 pm at Novi Ice Arena. The winner of that game heads to Compuware Ice Arena and the state semi-finals.

Watching the Novi team dominate Northern - they were bigger, more physical, faster and controlled the puck for most of the game - I couldn’t help but wonder what would happen if Novi and Catholic Central faced off again in the state semi-finals or finals. How great would that be?!? (CC beat Novi 6-2 earlier, a regular season game). Well it turns out the two schools are in different divisions (CC is D1 in hockey, Novi D2); alas, my dream scenario couldn’t happen. 

Hockey, like basketball and some other sports in Michigan, allow all teams to qualify for the playoffs. Unlike football where at least 6 wins are required, even the worst teams in these sports have a chance at a state title at the end of their regular seasons. Such egalitarian entrance policies are designed to give every team a shot, evoking warm and fuzzy feelings and perhaps flashbacks to one of the best sports movies of all time, Hoosiers.  But that’s not actually how it works.

In Hoosiers, literally every team in the state competed in the same bracket. Michigan, like every other state in the union today, including tragically Indiana, has separated its schools by size in each sport into separate divisions.

In cross country, there are four state championship cross country teams in November at MIS and there will be 3 state champions in hockey this year. Why can’t we let the Cinderellas of the world compete with the private schools that recruit middle school athletes? Why don’t we make the large public school of 2,000+ students prove they can beat the small public schools from up North with 500 kids in grades K-12? 

It wouldn’t be difficult to do: have all the state champions from the different divisions play for the title of best team in the state. The MHSAA can keep the multiple state championship formula and the schools would get to compete for an even more illustrious prize.

The MHSAA thinks it would be cruel and unusual to make these underdogs get crushed annually by the bigger schools. But what if the small schools pulled off the upset? It happened at least once before, and became one of the greatest American sports stories of all time. Surely it can happen again.

Other Recent Columns:
A new outlet for sports passion
Novi’s Gargantuan Sporting Footprint
The underestimated power of sports
Bernie's farewell
Shamrock radio
Never say never

Previous Columns

Alex Prasad is a life-long Michigan resident, a student at the University of Michigan and a 2007 graduate of Novi High School. He was the Novi.org school and sports reporter while he was NHS. Alex was also a captain of the NHS Cross Country Team and Track Team under legendary coach Bob Smith. His passion for running continues to this day, as he trains for a marathon.

Alex is currently Sports Director of WOLV-TV, the student run television station at UM, and produces shows on both the Michigan Football and Michigan Hockey teams. 

You can see more of his work here.