TRENTON – It was another blistering day outside on Tuesday but chilly relief inside Kennedy Recreation Center, where local high school hockey teams continued into their fifth week of the annual summer league.
The latest action featured several local rivals in a pair of outings, with Grosse Ile taking on Riverview-Cabrini United followed by Gibraltar Carlson facing off against Brownstown Woodhaven.
It’s year two for Scott Sebastian at the helm for Grosse Ile. While very young, the longtime coach is optimistic.
“We’re really excited about this group that’s coming this year,” Sebastian said. “We’re getting them up to the speed of the culture and the standard that we expect, but it’s been a great group all summer.”
A year ago, Sebastian and his Red Devils made it to the regional semifinals before bowing out of the state playoffs with a 15-12-1 record.
Changing the culture was something Sebastian started day one and is continuing this season. The underclassmen outnumber the senior group 2 to 1, but they are learning and growing under the veterans.
“They were wide-eyed last year seeing the transitions in the program,” Sebastian said. “But they’ve been phenomenal this summer in and out of the room and you need that coming in. The young guys look up to the older guys in everything – how we stretch, how we warm up, how we prepare, how we watch film, how we train.”
Though it boasts just a handful of players, Sebastian says the Class of 2027 players on the roster have been impactful through five weeks of summer. He added that it is helpful that almost the entire roster consists of just hockey players without any other sports.
“They’ve been supportive in the last couple of months showing the young guys what we expect,” Sebastian said. “I’m looking forward to the next level of success with the guys that have been in the system for a year and being able to teach them the game without having to coach hard.
“They’re smart,” Sebastian added. “They all have high hockey IQs and it’s going to allow us to instill systems and concepts versus trying to change the culture which we had to do last year. It’s going to be a really fun year.”
The Grosse Ile ice hockey team battled Riverview-Cabrini United in its latest summer league contest at Kennedy Recreation Center in Trenton on July 14, 2026. (SAMANTHA ELLIOTT — For MediaNews Group)
In the nightcap of the evening, Carlson too spent the night with a very full but also very young bench themselves. The future appears to be bright for the Marauders, who like Grosse Ile finished 15-12-1 last season.
“We’re feeling confident,” Carlson coach Andy Watson said. “We have a really large number of young kids. Our sophomore class is 12 or 13 kids and we have a really good group of kids coming up in like sixth, seventh, and eighth grade so it will be really good for a couple of years.”
With a young team comes young mistakes, but Watson and company are happy with how things have come along through the summer season. He says that the kids also simply want to be there, which aids in the positive outlook.
“We’re going to have to do a lot of coaching this year, but the kids are great,” Watson said. “They’re really good kids and I don’t think we have one problem on this team. The kids are really fun to work with.
“When I started coaching up until now, we would have to really kind of beg and plead to get kids to come and show up,” Watson continued. “These kids want to be here for everything. It’s going to take a little bit of work to get them where we need them but the attitude’s right.”
After graduating nine in June, the Marauders will look to a group of four new soon-to-be seniors to lead the way this upcoming winter.
“We lost a good core but the four that we have here are really good kids,” Watson said. “We’re really looking for them to step up this year and take leadership of this team. I think a couple of them already stepped up and have taken on that role.
“We’re really excited to see how they’re going to continue to grow and get this team moving in the right direction.”
As they head into the penultimate week of summer league, Carlson will continue their improvements to be ready come tryouts November.
“Some of the things that we’re seeing right now is the adjustment to the speed of the game,” Watson said. “A lot of these kids played a high level of travel last year but even with that, the step to the next level a lot of these kids are a little out of position and they’re caught watching.
“(But) no doubt in our minds, we’re very confident that they will make that adjustment when it’s time.”
Photo gallery of Grosse Ile and Gibraltar Carlson ice hockey in ice hockey summer league action
Carlson has four summer league games remaining, with the next being this Thursday, July 16 against Riverview-Cabrini. Grosse Ile meanwhile has just two exhibitions left, including a date with Trenton on Monday, July 20.
The summer league will finish up over the next two weeks with all games being played at the Kennedy Center in Trenton.