Jordan Ingram scored twice against St. Clair CollegeOakland University suffered its first loss of the season, 3-2, in overtime to a talented St. Clair College team last night at home.
Oakland started the game strong getting an early goal from senior Dan Oleksy on a great pass from Jordan Ingram. The lead didn't last long, however, as St. Clair scored just three minutes later on a goal by Matt Broadhead, a former junior player with the Traverse City Enforcers of the old Continental Elite Hockey League.
"Between periods, I let the guys know that there were a lot of positive things going on out there," OU head coach Sean Hogan said. "If we can keep the pressure on, we can get out of here with a win."
OU found themselves down a goal with just under 20 seconds remaining in the third period.
"We drew up a great play in the timeout to get the puck deep off the neutral zone facoff," commented assistant coach J.R. Dunn.
Oakland did just that, and with the goalie pulled, won the draw and put the puck deep in the St. Clair zone. The Grizzlies applied pressure and forced a turnover, setting up Ingram's goal from the left face-off circle with only 10 seconds remaining.
"I was really proud of the way our guys fought all game long," said Hogan. "We applied consistent pressure. We just need to capitalize on our opportunities."
In overtime, St. Clair finished off the Grizzlies with a goal 2:33 into the fourth stanza.
"That's the way OT goals are scored," said Hogan. "They threw it out front and got a bounce. St. Clair played well, they are a good team. We will be alright. I think this bodes well heading into our game with Wayne State Tuesday night."
Oakland out-shot the Saints, 37-26, but were 0-for-9 on the power play. St. Clair was 0-for-6.
Next Up: OU will take on an NCAA D-I opponent for the first time in their seven year history when they play the Wayne State Warriors Tuesday night at the Michigan State Fairgrounds Coliseum at 7:05 p.m.
"Wayne State will be the toughest opponent we have faced here at OU," noted Hogan. "We will need to play a near perfect game and commit close to zero mistakes to stay with them."
Tuesday's contest will open the season for WSU, ranked third in the pre-season College Hockey America coaches poll released last Friday. Sophomore forward Stavros Paskaris, the CHA rookie of the year last season, was named to the pre-season All-CHA Team.
Captains Named: Oakland named their team captains before Friday's contest with St. Clair. Assistant captains are Will McMahon, Scott Elder and Ingram while the wearer of the 'C' as captain is graduate transfer Brandon Lipari.
"The players voted for these men," Dunn said. "They are their guys chosen to lead them. I think we have the right players to do it. They command respect on and off the ice."
Lipari played last season at Michigan State.
2 comments:
Saw this game. Very exciting. St. Clair College has great penaty killing ability with a goalie very capable of winning a couple of games by himself. Oakland had two 5 on 3 opportunities and couldn't convert. Quicker passing and quicker shots might help them.
Oaklands looked pretty good short handed as well with St. Clair going 0-6 on their powerplays. Congrats to
St. Clair on a nice overtime win.
I am very excited to see what happens with the Wayne State game Tuesday night. Friday it sounds like OU had their chances but just couldnt get it done.
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