Grosse Pointe Woods

Lock knows his GPN squad is far from perfect, but signs point to a long playoff run

By Mike Moore
C & G Sports Writer

» Click on image to view full size « Photo by Patricia O’Blenes North’s Brad Werenski (22) cuts in front of a St. Mary’s player during the team’s 3-1 loss Jan. 25. Despite the setback, North has been playing better of late while hovering around the .500 mark. Photo by Patricia O’Blenes North’s Brad Werenski (22) cuts in front of a St. Mary’s player during the team’s 3-1 loss Jan. 25. Despite the setback, North has been playing better of late while hovering around the .500 mark.

DETROIT — When asked to compare his current team to the one that hit the ice just a few months ago, Grosse Pointe North boys hockey coach Scott Lock responded simply and succinctly.

“Night and day,” he said. “I knew we had a good team, a good group of guys, but I also knew it was going to take some time for them to learn the system and learn to play together. Little by little, we’ve gotten better and better.”

Lock said he knew in early November, when the squad was beginning to take shape for a season that had yet to begin, that there would growing pains early on.

He also knew his patience would be tested at times.

But little by little, the consistency he and his guys have focused so squarely on has started to emerge.

At press time, the Norsemen were 6-8-0 overall and 4-7-0 in the Michigan Interscholastic Hockey League. Neither record is stellar, but considering the opponents North faces on a regular basis, hanging at or around the .500 mark is a small victory in itself.

“We’ve beat some real good teams lately,” goalie Chip Wujek said before a Jan. 25 game against Orchard Lake St. Mary’s, an eventual 3-1 loss in which the senior had 33 saves and St. Mary’s scored an empty-net tally in the loss. “When we play as a team, we know we’re tough to beat.”

Leading up to the late-afternoon tilt against the Eaglets, North was starting to play its best hockey of the season. In two of the three games before the St. Mary’s loss, one in which Lock said his team played well enough to win, the Norsemen had victories over Trenton High, one of the top-ranked teams in Division 2, and Warren De La Salle.

But mixed in with those two impressive wins was a head-scratching 5-3 loss to the University of Detroit Jesuit, a team that has just three wins all year.

“Those are the types of games we have to learn from and avoid if we’re going to do some of the things we want,” forward C.J. Kusch said. “In the games we’ve lost like that, against teams we feel like we should beat, I think we’ve played more as individuals instead of a team. … When we play as a team, we’re very confident and very hard to beat.”

Lock remains confident in his team’s ability to get everyone on the same page before the postseason begins.

“We’ve got some time and a lot of games against a lot of good teams before the playoffs start,” said Lock, whose team will be tested right off the bat in the postseason, facing St. Clair Shores Unified in a Division 2 pre-regional opener. “We’re confident we can get to the point we want to get to. Our best guys have to be our best guys, and the role players have to carry their part every night. If we do all that, we’re going to be in good shape.”

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