Grosse Pointe Woods

Grosse Pointe North hockey rolls past Berkley-Ferndale Unified in D-1 opener

By Mike Moore
C & G Sports Writer

» click to enlarge « Photo by Sean Work Grosse Pointe North's Jack Guest works between a pair of Berkley defenders during the Feb. 26 playoff opener. North won the game 9-1. Photo by Sean Work Grosse Pointe North's Jack Guest works between a pair of Berkley defenders during the Feb. 26 playoff opener. North won the game 9-1.

DETROIT — Scott Lock admitted his team had been snake bit of late, especially after scoring just two goals in the final two games of the regular season.

Well, that all changed Tuesday night as the Grosse Pointe North hockey team opened the Division 1 playoffs with a bang, cruising past Berkley-Ferndale Unified by a 9-1 score.

“We wanted to come out and play hard, and this is a good first step to get out of the way,” Lock said.

After the teams played roughly 10 minutes of scoreless hockey, North scored three quick goals and led 3-1 after the first period.

The Norsemen added three more in the second, and then completed the mercy with three more in the third, ending the game with about eight minutes remaining.

“North is a very tough team, and in the end, we just didn’t have the legs to stay with them,” Berkley coach Jeff Fleming said. “We’re just not deep enough to contend with a team like that. I’m real proud of our guys, real proud. It’s always tough to play that last game.”

Robby Flannery had the Bears' lone goal.

“We had to approach things with the mindset that anything could happen,” Lock added. “They have a really good goalie, a kid that could steal one. So we had to come out and play our game. Once we got a few goals, we kind of settled in and took off.”

Nick Cusmano and Nick Murray each scored twice for North (16-10-0), which moves on to face the University of Detroit Jesuit in a 5:30 p.m. Feb. 28 regional semifinal at City Sports Center.

The Cubs beat St. Clair Shores Unified 8-0 in a pre-regional.

North beat U of D twice during the regular season by scores of 4-3 and 1-0.

Berkley ends the season 19-7-0.

You can reach C & G Sports Writer Mike Moore at mmoore@candgnews.com or at (586)498-1038. Follow Mike on Twitter.