Heading Home: Werenski grew up when Hockeytown was buzzing

For a Michigan Man – a native of Grosse Pointe outside of Detroit and a former University of Michigan defenseman – Zach Werenski has embraced the move to Columbus, Ohio.

There is quite a rivalry between his home state and his current state, you may have heard, but Werenski seems equally comfortable on either side of the border.

The Blue Jackets defenseman has said over the years he appreciates the Wolverines vs. Buckeyes trash talk – particularly in recent years when Michigan has started to win the football games between the schools – and always has spoken highly of Columbus while putting down professional roots here.

Yet, let’s be honest – he's a Michigander through and through. The Blue Jackets are headed to Detroit to play the Red Wings on Tuesday night, and Werenski still enjoys every chance to return home. As part of our Heading Home series, we decided to ask him what it was like to grow up and live in the area.

HEADING HOME: Kent Johnson loved growing up in Vancouver

We’ll let Werenski’s words do most of the talking, but the text in bold are the questions we asked the alternate captain about the trip back to Michigan.

You’ve gone home a number of times now to play, but is it still a game you circle on the calendar? “For sure. Earlier this year, it was a day game on a Saturday, which was great because everyone wanted to go and everyone was having fun. These weekday games are a little tougher. Some people can’t go because of work or whatever. But it’s always fun to go home and see my grandparents, see my brother, see my parents, hang out for a few days. The most fun part is looking in the crowd and seeing people I didn’t even know are there. Just seeing their faces up there, I always enjoy doing that.”

Do you remember how you got into hockey? “A little bit. My older cousin played. My family friends – they were a little older than us – they played hockey. It was kind of the thing to do. The Wings were winning every year – ‘97, ‘98, ‘02, ‘08 – so everyone was playing hockey. They were the big thing in town. My parents (Ken and Kristen) just said, ‘OK, we’re going to throw you guys in hockey today.’

(My brother) Brad, they put him in early and then he hated it, so when I got a year older, they put me in and I loved it. So the story is Brad wanted to play because I liked it. Then we started playing together on the same team all the way up until we were 13, 14, went to different teams, then played together again when I was 16. We played together for a long time.

“That’s how it got started. My parents knew nothing about it, but it was the hot thing to do at the time.”

Detroit is known as Hockeytown. What was it like growing up in a place where people love the sport? “It’s incredible. I think you can look around the league and see all the guys from Detroit. It makes sense. This age group, everyone says the same thing – a lot of it is a credit to the success of the Red Wings and why everyone wanted to play. I was fortunate when I was growing up, there were nine or 10 Hall of Famers on the team and a Hall of Fame coach. We were spoiled as kids watching those guys play. A lot of us credit them for our success because we wanted to do what they did. It was awesome.”

Did you go to a lot of Wings games growing up? “Quite a bit. A lot of people we knew had season tickets. A couple of times, I remember in ‘08, ‘09, we would go to the Stanley Cup Final, watch those games. We’d go quite a bit; whenever we could.”

When you were a kid, did all your friends play? “Everyone I knew played. I don’t think there’s a friend I had that didn’t play growing up. It was the hot thing to do with how good the Wings were. Everyone wanted to play. We always played street hockey, mini sticks in the basement. In the winter it was pond hockey, so it was a good time to grow up a hockey player in Detroit.

"There were always backyard rinks. A couple of times a year, the big lake (Lake St. Clair) would freeze over. I had a few friends that lived on the big lake, so they’d put out some lights and shovel it off and we’d go out there and play pond hockey. For the most part it was backyard rinks. My cousin had one. A couple of my friends had them. Every day off we were over there. Every day after school we were over there playing pond hockey and just enjoying it.”

The city has been through a lot, but are you excited to see it on the rebound? “I love it. I try to tell the guys. We fly in, we grab dinner and go to the rink, so they don’t really see too much. I try to explain to everyone that it’s a lot different than you think. I love it. I love grabbing dinners there, going out there, hanging out downtown, but obviously people don’t really get to see the side of it that I do. I’m a big advocate for it. I’m a fan of the city of Detroit.”