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ST. CLAIR SHORES — Last season was one the St. Clair Shores Lakers Unified hockey team will never forget.
The Lakers sailed through the city of Grosse Pointe in the Division 2 state tournament, beating North and South to make their way to the regional finals against Warren De La Salle Collegiate.
The support throughout the city of St. Clair Shores was felt within the team as the Lakers embraced the underdog mentality.
The 7-2 loss to De La Salle wouldn’t show how they trailed De La Salle 3-2 heading into the third period, but regardless of the outcome, the Lakers were poised for another strong season with their returning group.
“Last year was one of the first real runs that we’ve been able to make in a long time, so we knew coming into the season that people would be looking out for us,” junior forward Brennen Lenk said. “There was talk on Instagram pages about us. We knew the challenge coming into it, and we’ve been able to adapt to it as of late.”
The excitement of the new season quickly had the wind taken out of its sails as the Lakers stared down a 2-6 record in the blink of an eye.
Losing skids weren’t anything new for a squad that faced a 1-7 stretch last season before their state tournament run, but this one felt a little bit different.
The focus wasn’t there, the team wasn’t clicking as a group, and every option that head coach Nick Radjewski could think of didn’t seem to fix the situation.
“It was hard,” Radjewski said. “I think everybody would admit, we kind of had doubts like, ‘What’s wrong here?’ We pushed a lot of different buttons as coaches, but finally we kind of had a whole team-wide meeting with the players, and we said, ‘Look, we got a lot of things in place to help you guys, but we can’t do it for you. You have to embrace that it’s your team, and you have to row, and we have to steer the boat.’”
It was difficult to hear as a team with such high expectations, but Lenk said it was exactly what they needed to hear.
“Really, it was a come to Jesus moment with the whole team,” Lenk said. “We just got everybody in one room and just really talked about the things we needed to focus on. From then on, we’ve just put our heads down and gone to work.”
After leaving it all on the table together during their discussion, it’s been night and day for the Lakers (12-6-1) as they rattled off 10-straight wins, ending the streak on Feb. 1 with a 2-2 tie to conference rival Marysville, to grab hold of first in the Macomb Area Conference White. The Lakers currently hold a one game lead over Marysville in the MAC White.
The Lakers started their comeback tour with an impressive 4-2 win over Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett and doubled down just two games later with a 7-6 overtime win over Chippewa Valley United. Sophomore forward Gavin McKee, who leads the team with 11 goals and is second in points (25) and assists (14), fired home the game-winner.
Lenk, a sophomore standout last season with a team-high 33 points and 20 assists, has elevated his game to another level this season with a team-high 27 points and 18 assists.
Lenk could easily be one of the premier scoring threats in the MAC, but his ability to facilitate the puck and find his teammates is what makes the offensive attack so efficient.
“He’s the best guy on the ice on a regular basis when he’s out there,” Radjewski said. “He just controls the game and he’s unselfish.”
Lenk has no shortage of goal-scoring options on the ice as McKee, sophomore forward Caden Gersch (10), junior forward Vaughn Zmijewski (11), sophomore defenseman Zach Delmonte (10) and senior forward JJ Tackett (9) all have nine or more goals this season.
From a points perspective, the Lakers are as deep as they come with eight players having nine or more assists and nine players having 10 or more points.
The team relies on its junior and sophomore classes, and they have not disappointed this season.
The Lakers received a heavy dose of their contributions from the underclassmen last year, and McKee, Delmonte, sophomore forward Mikail Mowery, sophomore forward Gavin Snarski, and sophomore defenseman Nathan Carrithers have continued that trend.
“They had to play a big role, and they definitely have stood to it,” senior defenseman Austin Brown said.
Brown headlines the senior class of Lakers alongside Tackett, forward Anthony Olesky, and goaltenders Daniel Young and Brendan Dreisbach.
Sophomore goaltender William Young and Dreisbach cover the net for the Lakers while Daniel Young has been sidelined due to injury, and William Young and Dreisbach have been sensational this season.
William Young was the hero in the Lakers’ state tournament win over Grosse Pointe South, stopping 46 shots, and he carried over the momentum to the tune of a 6-3 record this season.
Every class and every player contributes for the team, and Delmonte said the veteran leadership is a key reason why.
“The senior leadership has been outstanding,” Delmonte said. “The seniors, especially when they’re captains, do a great job of pushing us younger guys and keeping our heads up. They’re like your best friends even though they’re a couple years older than you.”
The Lakers only have a handful of games left, which includes a rematch with De La Salle on Feb. 8, before the state tournament begins, but they are now playing like the team that captured everyone’s attention in the 2023 state tournament.
Sometimes, in-season adversity is needed for a team, and now the Lakers feel like they’re fully back on track and ready to make a run at the regional finals.
“That’s 100% our goal again this year,” Lenk said. “We want to be back there, we want to win it, and we want to go see what we can do in the state tournament.”
