Tyler Pietrowski, a sophomore at Genoa High School, is an honor roll student.

That, in and of itself, is truly impressive considering the schedule Pietrowski maintains seven days a week.

Pietrowski, 15, who lives in Curtice with his mother and father, Kersten and Mike, has been playing hockey since he was 4 years old. Any hockey parent will tell you that having their child involved in the sport comes at a price, both time-wise and monetarily.

Tyler travels to Troy, Mich., every day after school to practice for his current team, the U-16 Oakland Junior Grizzlies AAA.

Tyler Pietrowski (front) skating with the Oakland Grizzlies

“It's an hour and a half drive four days a week,” Pietrowski said. “My dad's 2007 Chevy Tahoe might have 200,000 miles on it, and probably half of that is hockey (travel).”

Pietrowski gets up at 6:30 a.m. every day. Last season, he was returning home from Troy at 12:30 a.m. The Grizzlies, however, changed their practice schedule this year, so Pietrowski now get home around 10 or 10:30 p.m.

“We had late practices last year,” said Pietrowski, who plays right wing. “I never had any energy at school. This year, I get home a lot earlier. I have more time now to do homework and stuff. I get home from school at 3 every day and leave (for Troy) between 3 and 4 o'clock. My dad and I go to the rink, Troy Sports Center — they have four rinks — and we have a little chalk time. Then we skate for an hour and a half. After that, we work out.”

Hockey has always been in Pietrowski's blood. To maintain the schedule he's kept over the years in travel hockey, it has to be.

“I like skating,” he said. “I just like everything about hockey. I like how it's physical.”

The Grizzlies, who compete in the Tier 1 Hockey League, do a lot of traveling. They recently played in tournaments in Philadelphia, Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., and Cleveland. They will travel to Boston in two weeks.

“We go to Chicago a lot, too” Pietrowski said. “When we go to these places, we take a bus but my dad still drives to all these places. He likes going to these things. He just loves hockey, too, and watching me play.”

Pietrowski has scored 12 goals in the Grizzlies' first 20 games this season. Two weeks ago in Cleveland, his squad took on pal Grant Meyer's Cleveland Barons Midget Minor team in a pair of U-16 league games. Meyer is also a sophomore at Genoa.

“We're really good friends,” Pietrowski said. “The kids I'm playing with are the best in Canada and the U.S. This year I bet a quarter of the kids in my league get drafted by the Ontario Hockey League and the United States Hockey League.”

Pietrowski will be eligible to be drafted next spring.

“The OHL is really good,” said Pietrowski, whose favorite player is Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby. “Most of the NHL draft picks come from there. In the USHL you can play until you're 21. I would like to play in the USHL next year and then, after graduating (from high school), go to college and play hockey there.”

And then?

“If I do well enough,” he said, “hopefully my dream would be to play in the NHL. But, that's still too far away.”

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