SPORTS

■

The Family which skates together
from left to right: Kevin Berke,
Coach Ken Berke and Matthew
Berke.

"Howe's That?

Southfield-
Lathrup's
Berke trio does
a Jewish
version of
Detroit's most
famous hockey
family.

HOWARD ROSS

Special to The Jewish News

K

en Berke is standing
behind the bench,
shouting to one of his
forwards as the player skates
after a puck behind the oppo-
nent's goal.
"Go get it, Kevin; go get it.
Come on. Dis, dis, dis," the
Southfield Lathrup hockey
coach yells, his voice echoing
across the rink.
He is yelling at his oldest
son.
Sitting on the bench a few
feet away, anxiously waiting
for his shift on the ice, is
Berke's younger son, Matthew.
Meet the Jewish version of
hockey's fabled Howe family.
Okay, so the Howes took
their game to the National
Hockey League (and later to
the World Hockey Association)
while the Berke kids don't
plan on making a career of it.
And Gordie never coached
sons Mark and Marty.
But that's the idea: the
family that laces up its skates
together, stays together.
When they're not skating,
they're watching the Red
Wings, either at Joe Louis
Arena or on TV from the
large, circular couch in the
family's Southfield family
room.
From November to March —
the high school hockey season
— the game is simply the

Berkes' life.
That includes Berke's wife,
Nadine, and daughter Lesley,
a junior who commutes to
classes at Eastern Michigan
University. Both attend vir-
tually every Charger game
and play as key, a role off the
ice as the coach and his sons
do on it or behind the bench.
At a recent game, Lesley used
a friend's camcorder to
videotape the action.
"We're a family of real rink
rats, we always have been,"
says Ken, 44. "From the time
both Kevin and Matt could
put on a pair of skates, they've
been out on the ice with me.
"Down through the years in
Mites, Midsets (youth hockey
leagues), whatever, I've always
had at least one of them on my
team."
The last two years have
been exceptionally special,
Ken says. Coaching both his
sons at the high school level is
an experience he won't forget.
Neither will Kevin, 17, a
senior left wing who earned
all-area recognition last year,
nor Matt, 15, a sophomore
whose specialty is defense, but
who has been moved to left
wing because of an injury to
another player.
"Seeing the improvement,
the growth in the players at
this level is really one of the
highlights of coaching," Ken
says. "When it's my sons that
I'm seeing that growth in,

well, that really hits home."
Kevin and Matt see the
hockey relationship with their
father in a lighter vein.
"It was great at first, but
I'm getting pretty tired of it by
now," Matt quips of having his
dad as his coach.
"It's great when you win,
but not so hot when you lose,"
Kevin says. "We all end up
taking the game home with
us and that can be tough."
The ride home after an ear-
ly season loss to Livonia
Stevenson, last year's Subur-
ban Prep League champion,
probably was tough. Steven-
son, with a larger roster and
more size to a man than
Lathrup, scored on its first
shot of the game and even-
tually wore down Ken, Kevin,
Matt and company in a 5-1
loss.
Both Kevin and Matt, play-
ing on different lines, were
shut out.
A far cry from this season's
opener, a 6-1 win against
Hartland where Kevin scored
two goals and three assists
and Matt scored a goal and
had four assists as the
brothers played on the same
line.
For Kevin, playing on the
same team with Matt has
been "a good experience!' "I've
watched him get better,
become a pretty good player
during the last year," Kevin
says.

Matt, sense of humor intact,
says of his teammate and
brother: "He's been All-
League and I think he could
be All-State. It's so tough to
play alongside a superstar."
"Seriously," Matt says,
"when we were younger and
played on the same team it
really didn't matter. But now
I really enjoy having him
around!"
Competitive
since
childhood, the brothers say
they have mellowed somewhat
since both entered high
school. Mom agrees.
"There was a time I never
thought they'd be friends,"
Nadine Berke says. "Until
about three years ago they
were always arguing with
each other. But now they get
along well, I think, because
they share many of the same
interests."
Both play football and both
life weights.
Kevin, a B student, may go
to EMU next fall, although he
says he is still considering
other schools. He isn't sure
about a major, but his main
interest besides hockey is
drama. He has taken acting as
a credit class for three years
and has appeared in school
productions of Our Town and
Arsenic and Old Lace.
"Hockey, if I play (at EMU),
would be on a club team," says
Kevin.
Matt says his best subjects

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

45

