In the fall of 1994, Lou Schmidt (who is currently the president of Honeybaked Ham Company), began the Honeybaked AAA Hockey Club. Honeybaked started with one team, the 1984 birth year and added a team each year until the 1998 season when the midget minors and midget majors were added to the top of the organization to give us a full compliment of boy’s teams. In the 1997-1998 season, the girl teams were added to the organization and they have kept up the proud tradition built by the boy’s teams.
In the early years, the teams skated out of U-M Dearborn and Oak Park. In 1996, Honeybaked and the City of Oak Park entered into an agreement that allowed Honeybaked to operate the Ice Rink and give us a permanent home. As we grew, our ice needs grew. Eventually we added the Hazel Park Ice Arena as our second home.
After 12 seasons, Honeybaked has won 39 State Championships and 4 National Championships. Honeybaked teams have won the Quebec PeeWee tournament 4 times, including back-to-back Championships with the 1985 and 1986 birth year teams.
Honeybaked continues to be a leader in sending players to the United States National Development Team. This season the U-17 will feature three Honeybaked players: Jack Campbell, Willie Yanakeff, and Bryan Rust.
Honeybaked has over 50 players spread out in the NCAA playing hockey. The University of Michgan has 6 players with ties to Honeybaked on their roster. The Michigan State Spartans have 5 players that have played with Honeybaked.
Honeybaked players are now becoming of age to play hockey in the NHL. Last season, there were 12 former Honeybaked players that played in the NHL. Tim Gleason (1982) for Los Angeles, Jim Slater (1982) for Atlanta, Jason Bacashihua (1982) for St. Louis, and Ryan Kesler (1984) for Vancouver. This season should produce more former Honeybaked players entering into the NHL.
The tradition of Honeybaked Hockey continues to build, and the players continue to excel at their sport after leaving the Honeybaked family. Once you play for Honeybaked, you are Honeybaked forever.
