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In an extremely physical, hard-fought, chippy game of hockey the Eastern Michigan Eagles come out victorious led by solid play early in each period.

Ann Arbor, Michigan- The Eastern Michigan Eagles in their home opener tonight in front of a large, loud crowd at the Ann Arbor Ice Cube defeated the visiting Davenport University Panthers by the score of 7-5. 

Davenport University in the early going of the game set the pace by consistently checking the Eagles and turning the game into a highly physical contest from the get go. The Eagles took the energy from the crowd off the opening faceoff and opened up the scoring just a mere 58 seconds into the first period on a wonderful play from Charlie Jones[Blair, Jensen] who lifted the puck high over the Davenport goaltender to push the Eagles ahead 1-0 early on. Eastern Michigan doubled their lead to 2-0 four minutes later. The Eagles got a breakaway opportunity on the puck escaping the reach of a Davenport defenseman in which the goaltender was able to send the puck aside. However, just a few seconds later the Eagles had three guys in front of the net and Charlie Jones[Opyd, Warren] was able to pound the puck into the back of the net. The Eagles quickly extended their lead to 3-0 just a mere 20 seconds later on a goal from Ryan Connolly[McCormick, Wilson] his first goal playing for the Eastern Michigan Hockey Club, taking advantage of Davenport playing again a bit lackadaisical off of the face off. Davenport responded however a minute later with their first goal of the game scored by Brett Reid. The young Eastern Michigan defense was caught of position allowing Reid to push the puck behind starting goaltender Tom Gresham to send the large Davenport contingent in to a state of happiness, and the score to 3-1. This goal seemed to pick up the spirits of Davenport as Davenport began to pound the Eagles even harder and continued to pressure the Eagles more and more pushing the Eagles back into their own end of the ice. Davenport was soon rewarded with their second goal of the period by Chris Green to push the score to 3-2, and the Eagles on their heels. The Eagles responded though a minute later on their fourth goal from Jeff Jepson[Majszak] which helped give the Eagles the momentum going into the break and concluded the scoring in the first period at 4-2 in favor of the Eagles.

The second period began very similar to that of the first period in which the Eagles were able to strike early in the period. This time it took 1 minute and 10 seconds for the Eagles to put their fifth goal on the board, a goal from Ryan McCormick[Connolly], to increase the Eagles lead to 5-2. Eastern Michigan expanded the lead to 6-2 on a 5 on 3 power play opportunity in which Davenport University had committed three penalties in a row which allowed the Eagles to set up a wonderful play for their sixth goal. On a picture perfect laser pass cross-ice from Jeff Jepson, Kelly Koester was able to pound the puck past the Davenport goaltender who could do absolutely nothing to stop the perfect pass and perfect shot. However, this series of penalties committed by Davenport seemed to again fire them up as they responded with a goal of their own 53 seconds later from Chad Anguilm which reduced the lead to 6-3. Davenport as they had in the first period continued to press the advantage and continued to hit and hit and hit and hit the Eagles, with the Eagles checking and checking and checking and checking back. After each play there would usually be a small skirmish between a couple of players, the game became very chippy, which is an understandable consequence of a game that was as physically played as this one. Davenport with 3:10 left in the second period reduced the lead once more to 6-4, on a goal from Peter Bortignon. The Eagles however responded with their seventh and final goal of the evening a minute later on a goal from Mike Opyd[Koester] to give the Eagles a 7-4 lead which would hold up for the remaining of the second period.

The third period was a period that matched the same intensity of the first two periods, however with even more extracurricular activities after the play and even more penalties to continue to incite the crowd. It was however, a much better played defensive period of hockey in my opinion as both sides seemed to be defending their nets a bit better than they had during the first two periods of the hockey game. The lone goal in the period came 4 minutes into the third period which added to the intensity, and the goal came from Davenport to push the score to its ultimate conclusion at 7-5. 

Davenport University on the ice looked to be a team of big, strong guys that played an extremely physical hockey game intending on wearing out their opponent and then fighting hard to score and then continue to press the opposition on the ice. Davenport University turned this game into an extremely high paced, highly physical hockey game, more so then any other game that I can remember in recent history against the Eagles. However, Davenport had problems controlling the puck and at times controlling their temper. It's one thing to be physical, it's another thing to be physical and composed. I can understand why this team won 31 games last season in Division II, they can quite simply go out there and wear out their opposition, checking them at every opportunity. 

To the credit of the Eagles on this evening they hung tough against a team that was out to hit them, hit them again and hit them a third time for good measure and for the most part they did a solid job maintaining their composure. Admittedly though, with some rather inconsistent calls from the referees and more importantly a few missed calls on both sides, the game was just a challenging one to get control of. The game was also played at such a frantic high pace early on and with the extent of how physical this game was, in a sense we're lucky that the game didn't turn out much uglier than it possibly could have. 

As was cited by the Eastern Echo in their EMU Hockey Preview Insert, the Eagles this season will go as far as the Defense of the Eagles can take them. The Eastern Michigan Eagles defenseman are composed of 4 freshman and 3 sophomores, a very, very young group of guys who will over the course of this season make several mistakes just naturally due to inexperience in playing at this level of hockey thus far. This inexperience was evident on several occasions during the game in which the Eagles would be out of position and would give Davenport the opportunity to get in and score. However, what impressed me the most about this young unit tonight was how they performed in the third period when the pressure was on and they made some very nice defensive plays and seemed to have a better sense of their positioning defensively. In many circumstances though, the Eagles were doing a lot more chasing than defending which primarily lead to an opening and left Gresham on his own to defend the net. For a first game for this unit, it was a decent effort but it will have to be a lot more precise and a lot more precise really quick since Ohio University comes into town, in which every single mistake is magnified by the Bobcats and is usually taken advantage of.

Offensively the Eagles skated very well, and passed the puck a lot better than I have seen them in past opening games. The Eagles goals were for the most part almost a work of art tonight as they were basically well set up plays and were pretty well executed. If I had to find a negative though, the Eagles had four breakaway opportunities to score and were unable to score on any of them (although the one lead to their second goal). When you get an opportunity such as a breakaway it is one of those things that you need to take advantage of, since those are primarily 1 on 1. Against some of the upper echelon teams in the ACHA, if you don't take advantage of those opportunities your opponents will. I've found through watching enough hockey on television and watching enough games live, that the easiest way to have a breakaway not work is to shoot the puck directly at the goaltender and hope that he'll let it sneak by. The players that have the most success are those who are able to find a way to fake out the goaltender, to get him leaning to the one side and then shoot it either high or low depending on which side of the net they are defending. It's just one of those things that I hope will not hurt the Eagles in an even larger game down the road, perhaps at the CSCHL Championships or even at the Nationals. Simply put, you need to take advantage of those huge opportunities that arise, and in the larger games that number dwindles rather quickly.

I also have to say that I was extremely impressed with the crowd that was there for the opening game. I haven't seen crowds like that at the Ann Arbor Cube except for a couple of Ann Arbor Pioneer- Ann Arbor Huron Hockey games in which both schools bring tons of students and a large following each to the game. I was happily amazed to the Ice Cube Stadium Rink brimming with a large crowd, and I hope this type of crowd continues to come out for the Eagles this season because if they do, we can help turn the Ann Arbor Ice Cube into a difficult place for teams to come into and win. I must also make a shout out to all of the Davenport Fans who attended the game which really added to the atmosphere.

So bottom line, how would I summarize the Eagles home opener against Davenport University? Honestly, it was a penalty filled, extremely physical hockey game with both sides playing some lazy defense at different times leading to goals. However, it was entertaining and it was a well earned victory for the Eagles, and after all, a win is a win.

Looking Ahead:

The Eagles now look ahead to their CSCHL Openers against the Ohio University Bobcats who will come in for two critical early season matchups. The game on Friday will be at 7:30 PM EDT and the Saturday game will be held at 4:30 PM. The Eagles and Bobcats have always played some outstanding hockey games at the Ice Cube, as their styles have always clashed perfectly every year. I expect this years games to be no different.

Good Luck To The Eagles, and Let's Go Green!
-Kevin

B+
Seven goals on the evening is nothing to cry home about. The Eagles offensively were very crisp and were passing the puck very well. However, Davenport was during the second and third period picking up on the Eagles long North-South passes and were intercepting a good number of them. Also, with several breakaway opportunities and the Eagles getting no goals out of them is something that can be worked on, and I know will be. Ultimately though, a solid effort for the first game of the season.

B
There were enough positional mistakes and defensive mistakes that would drive every coach insane. Well, at least they drove me insane. However, throughout the season I expect this number of mistakes to continue to dwindle and decrease as this young, talented group of defenseman begin to communicate better and position themselves better. On the positive though, the third period of this game was a big improvement for the Eagles as they seemed to be better adjusted to the physical nature of the game.

B+
Both of the special teams had plenty of time on the ice, and the power play did a solid job getting a couple of goals and the penalty kill did as good of a job as it could of.

B+
Gresham made some wonderful saves in net tonight, and on a large majority of the goals was left out to dry by a positioning error defensively. He definitely showed glimpses of what everyone was raving about after the National Tournament two years ago.

B+
A solid effort for the opening game of the season. In my opinion, this was the most physical team that the Eagles have played all season and did a solid job in the last two periods of not letting it get them fatigued. There were errors offensively and errors defensively, but these things will always happen in the opening game of any season. Bottom line, the Eagles beat a solid team in Davenport tonight and in the process got acclimated to what Michigan-Dearborn will be trying to do to them later on in the season.

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