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Oakland University outshoots Eastern Michigan 40-23 en route to a 4-3 victory over the Eagles.

Ann Arbor, Michigan- The ACHA Division II Runner Up Oakland University completed the home-and-home sweep over the Eastern Michigan Eagles with a 4-3 victory at the Ann Arbor Ice Cube this Saturday afternoon. 

The game began in an unusual fashion as when we walked into the Stadium Rink at the Ice Cube, Oakland University was already shorthanded before the first face-off had even commenced. However, the Eagles were unable to take advantage of the early opportunity, and the first period consisted of a consistent hard hitting defensive battle. The scoring was finally broken however with 5:33 remaining in the first period, and the Grizzlies from Rochester scored first. On a telegraphed pass, Brandon Lipari stole the puck and broke away from the EMU defenders and snuck the puck past goaltender Tom Gresham to put the Grizzlies ahead 1-0. The Eagles despite being outplayed for large portions of the period were able to get the tying goal in the period with only 24 seconds left on a goal from Kelly Koester[Olgren, Opyd], in which the puck just seemed to trickle by Oakland University goaltender Andrew Hansen. The first period ended with the score in a 1-1 tie. 

The second period was of a very similar manner to that of the first period. The Eagles were given two power plays early on and they were able to take advantage of one of them 6 minutes into the period, on Kelly Koester's second goal which was set up by a nice pass from Jepson to give the Eagles their only lead of the contest at 2-1. It was a beautiful pass into the slot and Koester's shot was basically one that no goaltender was going to stop considering that it was screened and was a rocket coming off of Koester's stick. Oakland University tied the game up 5 minutes later on a play in which the Eagles were basically caught flatfooted. Immediately after the faceoff, the puck was shot on net by Will McMahon and it got by Gresham without the Eagles really reacting at all, to push the score to 2-2. Oakland University on a power play opportunity then gained the lead that they would not relinquish with 5:24 left in the second period. The Eagles on this particular penalty kill were doing an outstanding job containing the puck in the Oakland University zone until a long pass from Ronnie Teasdale allowed for Will McMahon to get by the four Eagles for an easy goal against Gresham to put the Grizzlies up by a 3-2 margin. Three minutes later at the 2:39 mark, the score ballooned to 4-2 on Brandon Lipari's second goal of the game in which the Eagles defense didn't do an adequate job clearing out in front of the net and Lipari was able to drive it past Gresham. The second period ended with this 4-2 lead for the Grizzlies.

The third period saw the hitting and the choppiness of the game increase as the frustration was growing on the Eagles faces and the Grizzlies tough nosed hard hitting defense was stopping the Eagles from getting any real sort of ebb and flow in the game. However, with 6:02 left in the third period despite the fact that the Eagles were not getting a ton of great opportunities on net Charlie Jones on a great individual play[Jepson on the assist] was able to get the puck past Hansen and the Eagles were in the game at a 4-3 mark despite being thoroughly outplayed. The Grizzlies were able to hold on in the last 6 minutes doing a solid job clearing the puck and playing good solid defense to preserve their 4-3 victory and to complete the sweep over the Eastern Michigan Eagles.

The Oakland Grizzlies are a big, physical team that plays good hard nosed fundamental defense and did a good solid job at swarming around the net. A huge reason why the Grizzlies won on this day was the fact that they were able to contain the smaller Eagles in their own zone forcing several turnovers and giving themselves numerous opportunities in the extended periods of time that they pinned the Eagles back in their zone. When a physical team can basically control the action in your own end of play, you're going to get tired and are going to become frustrated as you won't be able to get any sort of flow going offensively, which the Eagles did not have on this evening. The Grizzlies however also played very undisciplined at times giving the Eagles numerous opportunities(I counted around 7) on the power play which is a primary reason why the game's score remained close. Oakland if they can continue to enforce that physical style will give a lot of teams trouble in Division II.

The Eagles on this day had no flow offensively, which as I mentioned above was primarily caused by the fact that they were consistently pressured in their own zone. However, to get the offense moving, a key element is to be able to successfully pass the puck without having any hitches. From my watching of the entire 60 minutes of the game, I believe I only could count about 3-4 good passes that did not cause a player trouble receiving it. Trust me, I cannot imagine that there would be anything more difficult than trying to handle a pass that isn't perfect and trying to stay in stride skating down the ice. As a matter of fact, I would assume that it is probably close to impossible to do it. Without good, clean crisp passes no offense will succeed in hockey. By this token, since the Eagles couldn't pass, they decided to try to carry the puck themselves into the zone and attempt to score on numerous 1 on 3 opportunities which will never lead to very good scoring opportunities. Against a physical team that plays in front of the net, you will NEVER get solid opportunities. Only when the Eagles were moving the puck around offensively with some success were they able to score. The second power play goal for example was set up by a really clean, crisp pass and because of this Koester was able to get the stick on the puck cleanly and was able to rip a hard shot past the goaltender. I for one, have noticed that the successful hockey clubs are those that can pass and will rarely make a ton of mistakes. 

In conjunction with this, it also seemed as if the puck was controlled by a remote control at times. The Eagles were unable to control the puck very easily, again a credit to Oakland but I cannot even count the number of times that the Eagles skated by the puck, failed to get wood on the puck or just frankly lost the puck without having much pressure on them. It's just very hard again to get any consistency or any movement going when the passing is off and the control of the puck isn't very good.

Defensively, the Eagles made several solid plays defending the net and made several plays that left Gresham out there to make a difficult save. The Eagles need to continue to defend the net and not get caught flat footed and out of position. In one particular power play for example, Oakland University was able to shoot the puck in front of the net twice, nearly setting up a goal in two specific instances. 

The current group of Eagles are a very young group and they are out there playing hard in my mind. They are also a group of young Eagles that are very frustrated with the way that things have been happening to them over the past few weeks. However, if you look at the four goals that were given up by the Eagles today, they were all goals that could of been prevented very easily. For example, when you are on the penalty kill and are doing a solid job containing the puck, you cannot allow a forward to sneak by the entire defense course to get a shot on net. That lead to a goal. For example, the defense would get driven out of position and would not defend the net due to it, this lead to a goal. The telegraphed pass lead to a goal. A shot off a face off lead to a goal. The Eagles should of won this game today, and had they eliminated just one of those mistakes we would be talking about an OT game right now, or had they eliminated just two of these mental mistakes we would be talking about the Eagles winning a huge contest. What is promising though is that with a young team of players like this, these sorts of mental mistakes are easily fixable by just being more aware out there of the puck and playing more sound positional hockey. I am 100% confident that the Eagles in time will be able to eliminate these mental errors which are holding them back and will be able to succeed. It's just you can see how the Eagles have struggled over the past few weeks. They play really hard for a period of time, have one minor lapse and it leads to a goal against. Then you start to think about that goal, and another lapse occurs and another and another and all of a sudden when you're a young team you're down 4-0 and frustrated. 

Everything just seemed off today. The effort was there, but they played against a team that can frustrate you really easy when things aren't going as well as they should be. However, to me there is promise in the idea that I feel that if the Eagles can continue to gel as a group and can continue to gather these experiences and improve from them, the mental lapses will go away. The Eagles just need to focus on playing solid, fundamental SMART hockey and I think this frustration will personally turn into elation. 

Looking Ahead:

The Eagles now go on the road to take on the defending ACHA National Champion Illinois Fighting Illini. It will be a difficult pair of games as the Illini have been playing some very good hockey. The Eagles then the following week return home for Parents Night on Friday Night, and a pair of games over the weekend against the Kent State Golden Flashes.

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

 C
Passing was off; Puck Control wasn't great; No real effective attack as the Eagles were outshot by 17 in the game and really had their only good offensive opportunities on the power play, which is not a great sign against an opponent who has had a ton of success.

B-
Solid at times, a bit questionable at times. Considering the scope of the game though and considering the fact that the Eagles were backed in their own zone for large portions of the game and did a very, very good job keeping the Eagles in the game to have a chance despite being outshot by such a huge mark.

B
Two power play goals from the Eagles on the evening in 7 attempts is a mark that is not too bad. The penalty kill did a solid job as well tonight, except for on the one goal that was allowed.

A-
Gresham made some outstanding saves on the evening and is a huge reason why the Eagles were able to stay in the game. A solid job.

C+
The effort is there. The talent is there. The basic fundamentals are there. Now it just a matter of eliminating the minor mental errors that lead to the goals against and to forget about the past and to look ahead and to just to continue to improve.

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