Will Lockwood says his dad
never told him much about his
history at Michigan.
It’s hard to believe, given the
kind of history Joe Lockwood
made. As a freshman in January
1985, the first season of the Red
Berenson era, Joe scored one of
the most unexpected, historic
goals ever to find twine at Yost
Ice Arena.
Berenson didn’t have any expec-
tations that his team, his group
that had lost 9-0 to Ferris State
the previous night, would even
be able to play closely with the
professional Russian team, Spar-
tak Moscow, let alone beat them.
The fans filling Yost didn’t have
any expectations, either. They
knew the Michigan hockey
team was having a rough start to
Berenson’s first season, but they
were excited to see the Russians
play their team — especially at a
time in American history when
beating the Russians meant more
than almost anything.
Even the players, most of whom
had marched down to athletic
director Don Canham’s office the
previous year to air their griev-
ances about the coaching staff
and petition John Giordano’s
firing, didn’t have much of a hope
that they’d win.
“You’re just hoping you can stay
in the game, quite literally,” Joe
said. “We were excited for the
game. It was a fun game to play in
but having come off of a road trip
back from Ferris with that — it
was a devastating weekend.”
And Spartak, which came over to
play a series of exhibition match-
es against U.S. colleges, was
expecting a light, easy win over a
historic program that was strug-
gling to find its footing in a new
era. Giordano had been the one
to agree to the game, so Berenson
had no idea what he was getting
himself and his team into.
When Berenson learned that
Spartak had come to the U.S. to
play three schools — Michigan,
Wisconsin and Minnesota — and
it had already beaten the other
two, he knew his team was in
trouble.
Spartak had a day off in Ann
Arbor to wait for the Wolverines,
who were across the state in Big
Rapids. The three-hour bus ride
back home, where the Russians
waited was always going to be
long — especially after losing by
nine goals on Saturday. Then the
bus broke down, and a long night
got even longer.
“We finally got home sometime
in the middle of the night and
the next night, we had to play
the Russians at home,” Berenson
said. “I was really down about
how we had played at Ferris last
night. Give the players credit, I
mean, they bounced back and
they were fired up.”
As the game got underway, it
became clear Spartak wasn’t
going to run away with it, as pre-
viously assumed. Michigan came
ready to play, and the Wolverines
weren’t going down without a
fight.
“We stayed in the game and there
were some big turning points in
the game,” Berenson said. “One
of them, I’ll never forget. We had
a big hit from Mike Neff, he hit
one of the Russians — like real-
ly hit him — at center ice. That
seemed to jump start our team a
little bit and the crowd.”
The crowd — mostly made up
of local Ann Arborites because
the students were still on winter
break — provided a lift of energy
to the team. And with it, Mich-
igan provided a lift of energy
right back with every save from
goaltender Mark Chiamp, every
hit and every goal.
“The Russians seemed like
they were just playing with us,”
Berenson said. “They knew they
could beat us. Mark Chiamp was
standing on his head. ... If the
puck missed him, it hit the post
or the crossbar, and it stayed out.”
Added Joe: “They definitely took
us very lightly, and that didn’t
work out so well for them.”
A game that was expected to be
an easy win for Spartak turned
into a raucous, back-and-forth
affair.
With 30 seconds left, the game
was tied at four goals apiece.
Defenseman Doug May blocked
a shot at the blueline, and Joe
pounced on the rebound. A quick
glance up revealed open ice in
front of him — the kind of break-
away at a key moment of the
game that every hockey player
dreams of.
Nearly 35 years later, Berenson
and Lockwood still remember
almost every detail of the goal
that lifted a struggling American
college team over an all-star
Russian team in the depths of the
Cold War.
“(Joe) knew he only had one
move, but he knew the Russians
wouldn’t know what it was,” Ber-
enson said. “He fired that puck
in the top corner like he’d done
it a thousand times and the place
went nuts.”
***
If this were a movie, Joe Lock-
wood’s story would continue
with him becoming a star for the
Wolverines and having a long
NHL career, all sparked by that
one goal to beat the Russians.
While this isn’t a movie, as the
years go on, the story of the
Lockwood family and Michigan
hockey comes closer than most
do.
Throughout their time at Mich-
igan, Joe was good friends with
Gordie Berenson — Red’s son.
After graduation, he stayed in the
area, and the relationship with
the Berenson family grew.
Joe and Gordie have remained
friends for decades, through
the transitions of becoming
full-fledged adults and starting
families. When Joe’s eldest son,
Will, was born in 1998, it was
only a matter of time before the
next generations of the Berenson
and Lockwood families forged
a bond.
Having grown up in a Michigan
family himself — both of Joe’s
parents attended the University
— Joe wanted to raise his chil-
dren as fans of the Wolverines.
They didn’t go to many hockey
games at first, but as Gordie’s son,
Blake, and Will got older, they
became regulars around the rinks
where Michigan was playing. It
was there that the seeds were
planted in Will.
“We would go to the games
together all the time with our
dads,” Will said. “We started go-
ing around (age) eight or nine, so
that’s kind of where it started.”
Throughout Will’s childhood,
Joe introduced his son to
elements of his own youth —
everything from taking the kids
to Michigan hockey games to
building a rink in the backyard
because that’s what Joe’s father
always did.
This led to Will first lacing up a
pair of skates at only three years
old. From the beginning, there
were signs that hockey might be
in his future.
“My dad used to put out the
wood panels and a big sheet of
(plastic) and fill it up with water,”
Joe said. “There was a kid in
our neighborhood whose dad
also did that, and we’d have little
home and away games. It was
really cool, so I thought, ‘For sure
I’m building a rink when I have
kids.’ I love it. … (Will) was three
years old and we had a little rink
in the backyard. He just took to
it right away. His other siblings
would skate too, but he took to it
very naturally.”
Will says Joe never pushed
him to play and never forced
anything, but it’s clear that the
younger Lockwood wanted to be
just like his dad.
When Will started to play
organized hockey, Joe coached
him for the first few years. But
as soon as things started to get
serious, Joe realized that Will
would be better off without his
dad being the typical overbearing
sports parent.
“I didn’t want to get in his way,”
Joe said. “I didn’t want to coach
him. I didn’t want there to be the
BAILEY JOHNSON
Daily Sports Writer
PHOTO COURTESY OF BENTLEY HISTORICAL LIBRARY
PHOTO COURTESY OF LOCKWOOD FAMILY