Get to Detroit Skating Club in Bloomfield Hills early on Thursday, because it should be a packed house for a much-anticipated event.
The hockey teams at Clarkston and Lake Orion have had two epic games already this season, with one going to overtime and the other a one-goal game for the OAA title.
Both were won by Lake Orion, but this will be the game that really counts when the Wolves and Dragons meet in a 7:30 pre-regional final.
Hopefully for the sake of Lake Orion, junior Kurt Latshaw will be back on the ice. In last Saturday's OAA final between the two teams, Latshaw was checked into the boards and laid motionless on the ice for about 20 minutes.
He was taken off on a stretcher, but hopefully he's since recovered and he's OK to at the very least, watch the game with his teammates if he can't play.

In Sunday's edition of the Oakland Press and also on MIPrepZone, Kosmo tried to give the warning that someone was goin' down in the girls basketball state tournament.
It happens all the time and each year Kosmo hands out that warning, but yet upsets just keep coming in the state tournament, particularly early on.
There were three of them on Monday, as Farmington Hills Mercy, Lake Orion and Royal Oak all entered their respective games as favorites, but now are all already in their offseasons thanks to upset losses. Mercy lost in overtime to North Farmington, Lake Orion fell to Rochester while Royal Oak was defeated by Southfield.
The second round is on Wednesday. Kosmo has told you once and he'll tell you again and again and again.
Someone's goin' down!
- Wednesday will also be a rematch of what was one of the most exciting prep events in any sport last year. In a Division 1 boys hockey pre-regional final, Novi and Novi Detroit Catholic Central will meet for the right to go to a regional final. The Wildcats and Shamrocks played an absolute classic last year, which was won in the third overtime by Novi 4-3. Just like CC did in wrestling against Oxford last Saturday, Kosmo has a feeling the Shamrocks will get some payback on the ice as well on Wednesday.

Of all the girls basketball districts that will take place this week, one that really has Kosmo's interest is the one at Bloomfield Hills Andover.
Usually, this is a district that would be won in a rout by traditional state power Birmingham Marian, who has the best girls coach in the state in Mary Cicerone.
However, this is has been an uncharacteristically down year for Marian.
A really down year.
The Mustangs haven't even reached five wins this season, and host Bloomfield Hills Andover just won the OAA Blue and has about as many losses this year as Marian has wins.
Given that logic, one would assume that Andover would beat Marian should the teams meet on Friday in a district final, which would be news because it might never happen again.
It would definitely be rare, but Kosmo still isn't convinced it'll happen.
Can an OAA Blue team beat a team from the Catholic League's top division?
Should that matchup happen on Friday, it'll definitely be interesting to see what the answer to that question is.
- That was one impressive performance by Novi Detroit Catholic Central in the Catholic League A-B championship on Sunday. Not only did the Shamrocks beat the No. 3 team in the state, Warren De La Salle, to win their first CHSL title in 15 years, but the Shamrocks showed that they should be in the conversation when it comes to teams who can win a state title. Kosmo is sure convinced CC is a contender.

This weekend will be somewhat unusual in that there will be something big going on each day, including Sunday and even into Monday. It should be a lot of fun and Kosmo is going to be glued in his cave to MIPrepZone to see what happens.
And it's not just the usual Friday night basketball games.
On Friday and Saturday, bowling regionals will be held around the state, with team regionals taking place Friday and invididual regionals on Saturday.
Of course, Kosmo's main man Marvin will be out in Battle Creek for the state wrestling finals, where as your seer wrote yesterday in this space, Novi Detroit Catholic Central is a good bet to win it all in Division 1.
On Sunday, Catholic Central will also go for a Catholic League boys basketball title at Calihan Hall when it faces Warren De La Salle in the A-B final at 3 p.m. The game will be preceded by the C-D final between Madison Heights Bishop Foley and Detroit Loyola.
Finally on Monday, the state ski finals will take place up north, and the state tournamnents will start for both girls basketball and boys hockey.
Wow.
So this is what they mean when saying the fun time if year is about to start.

Kosmo feels sorry for any opponent of the Novi Detroit Catholic Central wrestling team right about now.
The Shamrocks enter this weekend's team state wrestling finals as the No. 1 seed and the overwhelming favorite to win it all.
Not only is Catholic Central talented, but it's very, very mad as well.
The Shamrocks still probably vividly remember losing by one point to Oxford in last year's Division 1 state finals, and that sting has lasted for nearly a year now.
Kosmo usually uses a Krystal ball to forecast basketball games, but he doesn't even need one to see what will happen at the state wrestling finals.
It'll be Catholic Central all the way. Talent and anger is a deadly combination for any team.
- The K-Man feels bad for Rochester Adams head coach John Hall, who will be suspended for the state playoffs for allegedly making contact with an official during a game against Oak Park in January. Kosmo wasn't there and doesn't know what happened, but he does know Hall is a great coach and man who wouldn't do anything like that on purpose. He cares about kids and the game and even if the incident was as bad as that referee is letting on, it was a mistake out of emotion and not a representation of the person Hall is. He's one of the best and Kosmo knows he'll learn and move forward.

On Saturday night, Clarkston and Lake Orion will meet for the OAA Red hockey tournament title at Birmingham Ice Arena and then in all probability will meet the following Thursday in a state tournament game at their "home" rink, Detroit Skating Club in Bloomfield Hills.
It should be two compelling games between two rivals and good teams, but the matchups bring out another question for Kosmo.
Why is it that Clarkston and Lake Orion have to drive to Bloomfield Hills for a "home" rink?
The fact that there are ZERO arenas amongst the affluent communities of Clarkston, Lake Orion and Oxford is mind-boggling to Kosmo.
The K-Man just doesn't understand how their can be so many rinks in the southern part of the county since Hazel Park, Berkley, Royal Oak, Oak Park, Troy and Southfield all have their own rinks, but yet there isn't one in the north.
Oxford has to play its home games at Troy Sports Center.
It simply makes no sense that the communities can't get together and build one hockey rink for people in these towns to go to.

It's the last week of the girls basketball season, which usually means most of the league title races are all but decided by now.
However, not this year.
There still are some compelling finishes in store that'll decide league titles, especially in the OAA.
In the Red Division, Clarkston is one game ahead of Auburn Hills Avondale and Southfield-Lathrup going into the final two games of the season. The Wolves will play at North Farmington on Tuesday and at Troy on Friday.
In the White Division, Rochester Adams can win the league title with a victory on Tuesday at Lake Orion, the only team that has beaten Adams in league play this season.
However, even if Lake Orion beats Adams, the Highlanders can still win a league crown on Friday at Birmingham Groves.
In the Blue Division, Bloomfield Hills Andover is a game ahead of Royal Oak going into the final two games.
Andover will play at Seaholm on Tuesday and at Ferndale on Friday.
In addition to all this, the KLAA championship will be held on Wednesday.
Should be an exciting final week of the regular season for girls teams in the area.

In case anyone was wondering what the pairings are for the start of the Catholic League boys basketball tournament on Saturday, Kosmo is here to help. Read below and e-mail with any questions.

C-D games at Livonia Ladywood
Noon - Detroit Loyola vs. Riverview Gabriel Richard
1:30 p.m - Madison Heights Bishop Foley vs. Detroit Cristo Rey
3 p.m. - Clarkston Everest Collegiate vs. Royal Oak Shrine
4:30 p.m. - Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes vs. Marine City Cardinal Mooney

A-B games at Birmingham Marian
Noon - Warren De La Salle vs. Pontiac Notre Dame Prep
1:30 p.m. - Orchard Lake St. Mary's vs. Birmingham Brother Rice
3 p.m. - Novi Detroit Catholic Central vs. Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard
4:30 p.m. - Detroit U-D Jesuit vs. Dearborn Divine Child

- In addition to the boys basketball tournament, the Catholic League hockey championships will take place on Saturday night with a neat twist. For the first time, the finals will be held at Joe Louis Arena. Even better is that annual powers Novi Detroit Catholic Central and Orchard Lake St. Mary's will be playing at 7:30 p.m.

Friday night already was going to be a big night for the hockey teams at Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood and Birmingham Brother Rice, who'll face off at Wallace Arena in a battle of annual state powerhouses.
But the two will add another neat element to the game when they partner to hold an event in conjunction with the game called "Faceoff Against Hunger."
The schools will wear throwback uniforms from the 1970's and all those who are attended are invited to bring food items, cash donations or both. All proceeds and food will go to benefit Gleaners Community Food Bank of Southeast Michigan.
The JV game will start at 5 p.m., while the varsity contest will start at 7 p.m. for those interested in attending to not only see two of the state's best hockey teams, but also to support a worthy cause.

Kosmo doesn't know how it's happening with the warmer weather that's lacked the usual amount of snow, but the ski season has managed to move along and now is at a critical juncture.
On Thursday, area ski teams will either see the fulfillment of a year-long goal or the end of their season when the state regional meets take place.
Both Pine Knob and Alpine Valley will host regional meets, where the top three teams for both boys and girls will advance to the state meet on Feb. 27.
It's amazing what ski lodges can do in this day and age without much snow. Accolades should go out to the workers and Pine Knob and Alpine Valley for at least having enough snow for the ski season to be held.
Those workers and the coaches who have helped are superheroes as far as Kosmo is concerned.
- Clarkston has all but clinched the OAA Red boys basketball title, which might turn out to be concern with how early the Wolves have done it. Hopefully Clarkston can still play hard and stay sharp for the last three weeks of the regular season until the playoffs start. Koz would hate to see Clarkston not be in sync for the playoffs on account of having nothing to play for the last three weeks.

Already one of the most decorated athletes in the county is Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes junior Ava Doetsch, who has won three state championships in four sports seasons as a basketball and soccer player at the school.
And she has four more chances to add to that as well.
Not half bad.
Also not half bad is that Doetsch already has decided what sport she's going to play in college and where at.
Last week, Doetsch made a verbal commitment to play soccer at Nebraska-Omaha.
No doubt the Mavericks are lucky to land one of the top female athletes in not only the county, but the state.
Congrats to the family as well and we'll see how many more state championship teams she can be a part of at WOLL before heading to Nebraska.
- Wednesday is the day team wrestling regionals will be held around the state, and it appears as if Oakland County will be well represented up at the state quarterfinals in Battle Creek.
Holly and Novi Detroit Catholic Central are heavy favorites to win their regionals, while barring a miraculous upset, Oxford and Rochester will meet in a regional final for the right to go to the quarterfinals. Add in the fact Clarkston has a decent chance to get out of its regional at Waterford Mott, and it could be a busy weekend in Battle Creek next week for Oakland County teams.

The state high school hockey tournament starts in two weeks, but before that, teams in the OAA will have its postseason tournament that'll start this Friday.
Here is the bracket for the Red Division.
Friday's games (held at the Onyx in Rochester) - Clarkston vs. Stoney Creek at the, 6 p.m.; Farmington vs. Oxford, 8:45 p.m.; Farmington Unified vs. Rochester United, 6:15 p.m.; Lake Orion vs. Birmingham Unified, 8:30 p.m.
Saturday's games (held at Farmington Hills Ice Arena) - Clarkston/Stoney Creek vs. Farmington/Oxford, 6 p.m.; Farmington Unified/Rochester United vs. Lake Orion/Birmingham, 8:30 p.m.
The championship and consoloation games will then be held on Saturday, Feb. 25 at Birmingham Ice Arena.
- This is also the week where the Catholic League will hold its girls basketball semifinals and finals, and Kosmo can't wait to find out what happens on Wednesday when Madison Heights Bishop Foley takes on Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes in a C-D semifinal at Novi Detroit Catholic Central. The Lakers are once again a contender to win a state title in Class D, while the Ventures have proven to be one of the area's top Class C teams. This should be an entertaining one for people to watch.

At the beginning of the season, Kosmo wondered how a couple of first-year coaches would fare with their teams, Jeff Jayson of Waterford Mott and Todd Negoshian of North Farmington.
Both were outstanding high school players, paid their dues as assistants and are just tremendous people, so Kosmo figured they'd have success.
Happily, Kosmo is here to report that he was right.
Mott is 12-3 on the season and captured the KLAA North Division title with a win over Walled Lake Central on Friday.
Not bad for a team that lost its most talented player, Chris Dewberry, to a transfer midway through last season.
It's a credit to Jayson and his players that they've responded and gotten better. Mott will be a team to watch in the state tournament.
Over at North Farmington, Negoshian took over for one of the best in the business, his father Tom.
Well, the Raiders have been a pleasant surprise this season, going 10-6 and are tied for second in the OAA Red with a 5-3 record.
The tradition of good basketball definitely is continuing at North Farmington.
It's just great to see such passionate coaches and great men having such an impact.
- The Southfield-Lathrup basketball teams are going in opposite directions. While the boys team is in a rough stretch, the girls team is thriving, knocking off Auburn Hills Avondale at home on Friday. This came a week after the Chargers handed Clarkston its first loss of the season. Lathrup is tied with Avondale for second in the OAA Red, one game behind Clarkston. Great job by head coach Michele Marshall and her players.

It's always nice when nights that are expected to be good exceed expectations and that was the case on Tuesday night in what surely was the most drama-filled basketball night of the year so far.
Kosmo can't remember when two high school players combined for 96 points in the same basketball game, but that's exactly what happened in the classic at Troy between the host Colts and Clarkston.
James Young certainly looks to have turned his season around, scoring 49 points against a Clarkston team that usually has one of the best defenses around. That was simply incredible, but so was the performance of Clarkston senior Nick Tatu, who scored 47 of his own.
Tatu hit 12 3-pointers also! Wow. Kosmo could live 200 years and maybe not see performances like that on the same court.
Over at Bloomfield Hills Andover, a buzzer-beating shot by Shannon Wilson gave Andover a one-point win over Royal Oak in a battle for first place in the OAA Blue.
At Clarkston, Auburn Hills Avondale earned some payback for an earlier one-point loss by knocking off Clarkston, 47-44, to move into a first-place tie with the Wolves in the OAA Red.
If all that weren't enough, Walled Lake Central beat rival Walled Lake Northern at home in a KLAA North boys game.
Indeed, it was a night nobody will forget.

Join us for all of Tuesday night's prep action, with commentary, scoring updates and links to all our stories as they come in.
We'll have game stories from:
Clarkston/Troy boys basketball
Walled Lake Northern/Walled Lake Central boys basketball
Auburn Hills Avondale/Clarkston girls basketball
Royal Oak/Bloomfield Hills Andover girls basketball.

Kosmo is always a fan of his main man Marvin Goodwin, and this is the time of year where he really becomes a fan.
The wrestling guru at the Oakland Press will be very busy in the next few weeks, because this is when things really get exciting for area wrestlers and teams.
Wednesday is the start of team district tournaments around the state for teams, which will kick off the best time of the season for wrestlers.
On Saturday, individual districts will be held, which will be followed by team regionals next Wednesday, individual regionals the following Saturday, the team state finals in Battle Creek the week after that, and then the individual state finals in early March at The Palace of Auburn Hills.
Kosmo hopes everyone keeps reading Marvin, because there will be lots of wrestling to focus starting on Wednesday.
Kosmo sure can't wait.

Reading all about her talents the past four years, Kosmo figured that Troy Athens graduate and Miss Soccer winner Olivia Brannon was destined for great things beyond high school.
As it turns out, it hasn't taken her long to fulfill that destiny.
In what is a tremendous achievement, Brannon has been named to the U.S. under-20 national team, where she is a defender.
The team currently is in Spain right now competing in a Four Nations tournament that also includes Germany, Switzerland and Norway.
Brannon, currently a freshman at Virginia, is the only player from the state of Michigan on the roster.
She no doubt is representing the state, the county and Athens very well. Congratulations, Olivia.
- Kosmo can't wait to see what happens in the Clarkston-Troy game at Troy tomorrow. Clarkston usually does a good job and defending great players, but Troy's James Young is on fire right now. He scored 36 points against Adams the other day and will no doubt want to prove he can light up one of the best defensive teams around.

February is usually the time of the year where really important events start happening for winter sports teams, and Saturday will be another prime example.
The first big meet of the year for area boys teams will take place when the Oakland County meet is held at Waterford Mott. The diving portion will be held on Friday, so the meet should end around 2 p.m. on Saturday.
This event has been the Birmingham Invitational in recent years and figures to be such yet again with Seaholm, Brother Rice and Groves likely the teams to beat.
Seaholm is the defending champion.
Read MIPrepzone on Saturday evening and Sunday's issue of the Oakland Press to find out what happened.

Kosmo here again with a developing story from Stoney Creek High School. This already has been mentioned on Twitter, but Brad Zube has been named the new football coach for the Cougars.
Zube was the head coach at Pontiac the last two years, leading the Phoenix to the state playoffs last year.
He's a good coach and a good man who'll point the Cougars in the right direction, in the opinion of Kosmo.
For those coaches looking for a head coaching job, the one at Pontiac is now open. The Phoenix have a lot to offer with talented players, a good athletic administration in place and a classic stadium, Wisner Stadium, to play home games in.

Reading through the paper and online today, Kosmo could see all the smiling faces of high school athletes all across the county over signing day on Wednesday. It indeed is a reason to celebrate when getting a chance to play a sport in college and to get some scholarship money to boot.
Kosmo is just here to give a little pep talk to those who signed.
When you sign on that dotted line, it's the start of an era, not the end of one. Don't just merely settle for realizing your dream of playing in college and getting some scholarship money. Once there, work to be a great athlete and student.
So often Kosmo has seen players sign, only to transfer out a year or two later because they had a spat with the coach or were horrified to learn that, gasp, all their other teammates are EXACTLY like them in that they were highly acclaimed high school athletes.
Coaches aren't there to serve and cater to you and there are other talented players on the team now that are used to doing things well, just like you.
Signing on that dotted line means that you're even more committed to becoming better every day, because it's going to get even more challenging at the next level.
That's the true meaning of signing day, and hopefully those who were able to partake in ceremonies on Wednesday will remember that.
There, pep talk over.