GPN tops defending champs

BY RICK SCHULTE • Detroit Free Press

ST. CLAIR SHORES--Even after netting a go-ahead goal early in the third period, by no means did Grosse Pointe North coach Scott Lock want his team to start feeling comfortable.

"They tried putting it into their second gear, but we withstood it," Lock said.

At the St. Clair Shores Civic Arena, Justin Kovacs broke a 1-1 tie in the third, and Ben Scarfone added two late scores to ice North's 4-1 state quarterfinal victory Wednesday over Orchard Lake St. Mary's, the two-time defending Division 1 champion.

The Norsemen advanced to Friday's semifinal at Compuware Arena in Plymouth against the Howell/Rochester Unified winner.

The Eaglets (21-6-1), appearing in their fourth consecutive quarterfinal, came in on an eight-game winning streak. They opened the scoring 3 minutes in on a goal by Zak Thompson. Ian Brambs drew the assist.

The Norsemen (19-8-1) took advantage of a power-play chance 4 minutes later. Twelve seconds into the advantage, John Neveux scored the equalizer with Scarfone assisting.

Both teams had plenty of scoring opportunities through the first two periods, but North's Eric Rohrkemper and St. Mary's Max Oslund each made several outstanding saves.

After Kovacs scored the go-ahead goal, St. Mary's had several chances it couldn't convert.

"This is what we've been working for since June," Lock said. "Our wheels and our conditioning really took over in the third period."

Scarfone, a pesky forward, made it 3-1 with 4:12 left on a power-play goal. He weaved up the ice on a line change and scored unassisted. He then had an empty-netter with 40 seconds left.

Matthew Lucchese, Scott Dornbrock and Nicholas Hartman had third-period assists for North.

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