HoneyBaked hockey factory
An example of how Detroit HoneyBaked has risen in the ranks of the Michigan Amateur Hockey Association came at the 2026 Ontario Hockey League priority selections draft when no less than seven of its 2010 birth year players were among those who were plucked.
Of the seven, three defensemen were among the top 69 players taken at the 2026 OHL Draft as Max Lappan went in. the first round to the Niagara Ice Dogs followed by Ivan Belikov to the Sudbury Wolves in the second round and Jake LaMontagne to the Windsor Spitfires in the fourth round.
Impressively, all three big defenders have already signed with the OHL teams that drafted them ahead of the looming ’26-27 season. (And notably, all three are represented by well connected and well respected player agent Eddie Mio of Octane Sports. A Windsor native, Mio was a goalie in the National Hockey League when it had only 21 teams. He suited up for the Edmonton Oilers, New York Rangers and Detroit Red Wings in an NHL career that spanned 10 years.)
At any rate, as an elite program, the Detroit HoneyBaked team of 2010 birth year players won the annual OHL Cup tournament in April of this year. In finishing first among the 25 teams that made it to the this year’s OHL Cup, HoneyBaked — coached by Matt Romaniski — became the first American squad to win it in the 23 year existence of the tournament.
To be sure, HoneyBaked has become a harvest of a hockey program on the OHL landscape.
