It was my first season joining the Wayzata Trojans High School hockey staff. I was hired on as the JV forwards coach.

The first player that caught my eye was a right handed forward. The puck just seemed to find his stick in every drill, small area game, day after day. 

I asked Head Coach Pat O'Leary, "who's that?"

O'leary responded, "Griffin Ness, he's a freshman."

Honestly, I don’t think bantam eligible players should play varsity hockey, but that’s a conversation for another day. 

Looking back at the 2014-2015 Trojans, we had 8 Division I hockey players. Another Division I lacrosse player and two Division III hockey players. We finished .500 on the season and had a second round exit to the Minnetonka Skippers.

To be frank, it was a rough season.

We lost seven 1-goal game and tied three times. We were one of the only teams that had a lead on the undefeated Poehling brothers Lakeville North team.

18 of the 25 games were against Top-10 ranked teams, including games against Casey Mittelstadt, Jake Jaremko, Dylan Malmquist, K’Andre Miller, and so many more. Almost every game was against three or more Division I players.  

Ness finished his freshman season on the third line, tallied 8 points and 24 penalty minutes. He ended up dressing for some JV games to try and gain his offensive confidence back.

After the season I had the privilege of coaching the Minnesota Section 6 High Performance 16’s team, 1999 born players. I was coaching alongside Minnetonka Assistant Coach Steve Aronson.

Aronson, a former Division III player for St. Thomas and draft pick of the Minnesota Wild, thought Ness was one of the best players on the ice in tryouts.

That team had 15 college hockey players out of 20, 10 are Division I commits or are currently playing already.  We went 3-0-0 on the weekend, winning the championship. Ness did not make 54’s.

Fast forward a season. Ness ran into some penalty and frustration issues during the season and a senior took his spot in the top 9.

He was on the fourth line.

At one point him and I got into a heated exchange outside our locker room. There were some tears, a kicked drinking fountain, etc.

O'Leary and the staff's message to Ness, "Be the best player in practice every day. Score the most goals every day."

He did. 

He shows up every day with a positive attitude. He shows up every day with an infectious passion for the game.  He gives 100% effort, 100% of the time. He wants to learn. He wants to be coached. He's a student of the game. Through all his adversity, all his ups and downs, that has never wavered.

The following week Grant Potulny was in the stands at practice. At the time Potulny was the Forwards coach and an Assistant with the Minnesota Gophers and asked after practice, “who is the right handed forward on your fourth line? He was your best player today.”

Coach O’Leary, “Griffin Ness.”

Ness scored one of the biggest goals in Wayzata hockey history in the State Tourney semifinals against Stillwater. On the fourth line. With 5 minutes to go in the game.

https://www.mnhockeyhub.com/news_article/show/620698-wayzata-schilling-hold-on-to-defeat-stillwater-2-1

The next night our fourth line took offensive zone face offs against Mittelstadt’s top line, even in the third period holding onto a one-goal lead.

Ness helped set up the game-tying goal with 1:10 left in the second period. It was 4 on 4 and I was going to send out senior forward, Dillon Riley, the player who took Ness’ spot in the top 9 with a month to go in the season.

Riley responded with, “Coach, my role isn’t the penalty kill.”

I said, “Dillon, it’s 4 on 4, but okay. Ness you’re up.”

The bench chuckled, Riley smiled. We won the State Championship.

Couple weeks later it was HP tryouts again, but the sections were different now. Out went the Eden Prairie, Holy Family and Minnetonka kids, and in came the Edina, Cretin and St. Cloud Cathedral kids.

After tryouts, Cathedral coaches said, “That Ness was one of the best players on the ice.”

The Section 6 17's team had 10 Division I commits and/or players, and 5 more are still playing in Juniors or Division III. We kept Edina’s top line together of Sammy Walker, Ben Copeland and Bram Scheerer.

That put Ness on a line with current Gustavus Adolphus forward Parker Johnson from Fergus Falls, and current Jamestown Rebels forward Lewis Crosby from Edina.

We went 3-0-0. Won the Championship. Again.

Ness did not make 54’s. Again. Averaging over a point a game. Again.

Elite League Invite? Nope. College offers? Nope. USHL draft pick? Nope.

Ness and I met at Jake’s City Grille in Plymouth for dinner. I told Ness that the dream was not over. He was coming into his Junior season  and was going to have every opportunity to play top line minutes, Power Play, Penalty Kill, everything.

Ness ended up making the Elite League in the final tryouts before his junior season at the end of summer and then tallied 23 points in 20 games.

Unfortunately, weeks before the season started, our Trojan hockey family lost one of its own and one of Ness’ closest buddies through youth hockey, Drake Shaver.

It was a tough season for our team. We won 7 games, emotions ran high. A season, that taught me more about life than I ever could’ve imagined. And how there is so much more to life than a game.

That entire season, Ness came to the rink, peaked into the coaches’ office with a small grin on his face and said, “We can beat Edina.”

After tough losses, Ness would ask O'Leary for the key to the workout room.  Who knows how late or how hard Ness worked out after a tough loss, but not many kids are throwing their workout clothes on at 10:00 pm on a school night after a game, but that's the kind of worker Ness has always been.

Somehow, in a season where hockey meant so little, our Trojans upset the Edina Hornets in the Section Championship 3-1.

Ness had 2 goals in the Championship and finished the season with 28 points in 28 games.

Heading into his senior season, Ness was voted senior captain, he put up 27 points in 19 games in the Minnesota High School Elite League and then 37 points in 25 games for the Wayzata Trojans, helping lead his team to yet another section championship game against Edina.

We lost 8-1. Ness was an even plus/minus.

When it was all said and done, Ness played 121 games in a Wayzata sweater. He left with a State Championship, two Section Championships, and possibly most notably two State Tourney All Hockey Hair Team appearances.

Just wish he started to hit the net earlier in his career, just kidding, Griffey.

After the season, Ness went down to Waterloo to finish the USHL season with them for their playoff run and played in five games.

This season with Waterloo, he already has 11 points in 20 games, including 7 goals and was just named to Team USA’s World Junior Select Team.

More importantly, his Trojans finished with the highest Team GPA in the conference. Ness contributed with a 3.8 GPA and also has a 28 ACT on his resume, needless to say, college coaches are ringing off the hook now.

Ness has committed to University of North Dakota where he will join also former Wayzata Captain Mark Senden.

Griffin Ness is Chasing Greatness.