June 24, 2005

Wayne State University men's hockey coach Bill Wilkinson has signed forward Jon Grabarek (Sterling Hts., Mich./Cedar Rapids RoughRiders) to a National Letter of Intent for the 2005-06 season. Grabarek joins defenseman Matt Krug (Livonia, Mich./Texas Tornado), who previously signed an NLI, as Warrior recruits for the upcoming school year.

A 5-11, 180-pound forward, Grabarek (pronounced gra-BEAR-ick) tallied 43 points on 17 goals and 26 assists in 59 games in 2004-05. He scored three power-play goals and three game-winning goals while recording a plus/minus rating of +11 as Cedar Rapids compiled a 42-13-5 mark.

In helping the RoughRiders to the 2005 United States Hockey League (USHL) playoff title (Clark Cup), Grabarek had 10 points in 11 contests on four goals and six assists.

During the 2003-04 campaign, he set the franchise record for points in a season with 57, while also leading the squad in assists (35), power-play goals (6) and plus/minus rating (+19).

In his initial season with the RoughRiders (2002-03), Grabarek had 15 goals and 14 assists for 29 points while playing in all 60 games. He tied-for-third on the team with five power-play goals.

The son of Rick Grabarek and Barb Sanders, he graduated in 2002 from Sterling Heights Stevenson High School.