G.P. North makes semifinals

A.J. Hakim / Special to The Detroit News

ST. CLAIR SHORES -- It was but two months ago, in the beginning of January, that Grosse Pointe North fell into a slump, losing five straight and six of seven.

But coach Scott Lock realized the situation and pulled out what little positive came out of it.

"A lot of guys were sick in the month of January, and we had games where we were dressing skeleton crew," Lock said.

"A lot of the times we couldn't hold practice. But the five straight that we lost, one, they were all against great teams, so we didn't lose to any slouches. But no game was a blowout, so we knew we could be good once we got healthy."

North (19-8-1), back at full strength, followed its losing streak by winning 10 of its next 13. And Wednesday night, at the St. Clair Shores Civic Arena, its 4-1 quarterfinal victory over two-time defending Division 1 state champion Orchard Lake St. Mary's washed away any lingering memories of January.

"It feels pretty good," Lock said of what will be his team's third straight semifinal appearance. "We told our boys to show some class, show some respect to them because they are the two-time defending champions and three out of the past four years.

"We didn't want to rub it in their faces or anything because they've been there, and they've had a great run, but all great runs need to come to end."

North plays Howell, which beat Rochester Unified, 2-1, at 8:30 Friday at Plymouth Compuware Arena.

North started the game hesitant, if a bit overwhelmed. It wasn't until after St. Mary's (21-6-1) scored first, a goal by Zack Thompson at 11:36 in the first period, that North broke out of its jittery funk, four minutes later with one of its own. John Neveux recovered a shot attempt from Benjamin Scarfone and chipped in the rebound past Max Oslund (22 saves). It was a power-play goal, and Justin Kovacs got an assist.

"I think the first seven minutes we were a little shaky," Lock said. "We were just kind of watching ... When we were short-handed, we get a little more energy from our team when we're short-handed, so we got that. Then, we got on the power play and got some confidence with that goal, and I thought we played very well after that."

In the third period, with North's confidence at its peak, it blew open the game with three more goals, the first of which came at 14:05, with Kovacs (goal, assist) scoring off a rebound. Matthew Lucchese assisted.

Scarfone (two goals, assist), late in the period, scored on a power-play and on an empty-netter with 40.2 seconds left. Eric Rohrkemper had a 24-save night.

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Orchard Lake St. Mary's goalie Max Oslund can't stop a shot by Justin Kovacs in a 4-1 loss. Matthew Lucchese (8) got an assist. (Gary Malerba/Special to The Detroit News)