By John Orrell, Contributing Writer
Region – In not-too-distant seasons past, mediocrity has been the norm for the Grafton High varsity ice hockey team. It’s not that the effort has not been there, quite the contrary, but records of .500 in 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 were pedestrian at best, say current seniors who were members of those squads.
All that has changed and changed in a big way with the emergence of first-year head coach Mike Binkoski who has instilled a new sense of confidence and mojo that many admit had been missing. Binkoski knew that the talent was there. It was just a matter of tapping the potential that had been simmering beneath the surface.
The Indians, with their 5-1 comeback victory over visiting Lunenburg High at Worcester’s Buffone Arena on Jan. 9, kept their season record without blemish at 5-0-2. Devotees of Grafton High hockey would need to rewind their collective memories to recall an undefeated record this far into the season. Most doubt that such an accomplishment has ever occurred on Indian ice.
“This is an outstanding group of kids both on the ice and off the ice,” said Binkoski. “When I took over this season, I looked back and saw that last year we were 10-10-1 and 8-8-4 the year before that. This year we’re emphasizing consistency. If you’re more consistent, good things will happen. It starts with practice. Every day, these kids work hard. There are no off days.”
“Being a senior, it’s a lot of fun to kick off the year going strong,” said senior Mike Najemy. “This year, the team is connecting where last year we struggled some. Everyone’s working together. Our lines are completely even and we have a lot of depth. I don’t see any reason why we can’t keep going strong.”
If the clash with Lunenburg is any indication, the good time should indeed roll on. The Indians found themselves down 1-0 late in the second period before sending home four goals in a span of under two minutes. No one panicked when the Scarlett Knights tallied. Everyone kept composure before the scoring binge began. In that period, goals were scored by Brendan Coates, Tyler Hart, Tanner Jelovich and Nick Hart. Joe Corsi added a third-period goal for good measure.
“Our depth is what makes us strong. Anyone can be a hero on any given night,” Corsi explained of his team’s success. “Like tonight, all goals were from different guys. Everyone stepped up. We have great goaltending. I love our work ethic. There are no days off from anybody in practice. We give it our all every drill. We always come in knowing we have a mission and it doesn’t matter who we’re playing.”
“We’ve really come together as a family which gives us an advantage over other teams,” added senior Nathaniel Motuzas. “We have a lot of tough competition coming up so I think our depth will help with that.”
The team is a co-op squad consisting of Grafton High and Blackstone Valley Regional Vocational Technical High School student-athletes. Often times blending players together from different schools can be an issue, but not so with this group, according to senior Nick Hart.
“Even though we’re from two different schools we always hang out, we always talk,” Hart acknowledged. “Every day at practice we’re having fun. We do drills together and our lines are really clicking.”
“It’s important to be mentally tough in this game. It’s like real life,” Binkoski said. “If you’re facing adversity, you can’t shy away from your problems. You have to be mentally tough and we have been responding well with adversity.
“We’re working so hard in practice, the games should be easy. We should work harder in practice than we do in games. These kids want to win but they know you can’t just show up and accomplish your goals.”
Members of the 2015-2016 Grafton High varsity ice hockey team are seniors Nathaniel Motuzas (defense), Joe Corsi (defense), Nick Gies (forward), Bret Deguire (forward), Mike Najemy (forward), Colin English (defense), Nick Hart (forward), John Sheridan (forward), Vishall Bajwa (goalie) and Tanner Jelovcich (forward) along with juniors Romen Bertovic (goalie), Brendan Coates (forward), Cameron Thomas (forward), Stefan Sadlon (forward), Skyler Colwell (defense) and Ed Matatall (defense).
Sophomores Jameson Adee (forward), Noah Charron (forward), Tyler Hart (defense) and Anthony Gill (forward) are teammates to freshmen Cam Powell (goalie), Tyler Thongpul (defense), Trevor Thomas (forward) and Serh Vertabedian (defense).
Corsi is team captain and is assisted by Jelovcich, Motuzas and Najemy.
Photos/Matt Dwyer