First Period:

OU: Piccoli(Kondratek) [1-0 Oakland] 16:53
EMU: Drdek(Opyd, Pinkerton) [1-1 Tie] 18:47

Second Period:

OU: Piccoli(Kondratek) [2-1 Oakland] 6:40 

Third Period:

EMU: Porter(Olgren, Koester) [2-2 Tie] 1:35

Overtime:

EMU: Porter(Hopper, Koester) [3-2 EMU] 3:39 into OT

Ann Arbor, Michigan-  Oakland University has had the number of the Eastern Michigan University Hockey Club this season. They defeated the Eagles in Dearborn during Thanksgiving and won at the Onyx Ice Arena last night in Rochester by the score of 5-2. So one could only imagine that tonight's 3-2 victory over Oakland University in overtime at the Ann Arbor Ice Cube was a bit sweet. Overall, it was a hard hitting, evenly played game that consisted of excellent goaltending, physical play and ultimately another entertaining evening of Eastern Michigan University Hockey.

The first period set the tone for the rest of the game (as it usually does). A theme developed however in this game that you will notice throughout the description of the three periods. The Eagles with about 9:00 left in the first period, went on the power play for the first time in the game, a four minute double minor penalty against Oakland University. EMU was unable to do anything with the power play and shortly after Oakland University opened up the scoring with 4:07 left in the first period on a goal from Steve Piccoli to give Oakland a 1-0 lead. The goal however seemed to ignite the Eagles as they proceeded to dominate the remaining four minutes of the period and were awarded with the equalizer with 2:13 left on Craig Drdek's goal. The first period ended with the score tied at 1-1.

The second period was played similarly to the first as both teams had their moments, and Oakland seemed to begin to really enforce their aggressive forecheck on the Eagles. Oakland took the lead on Piccoli's second goal with 13:20 left in the period on a 2 on 1 breakaway that goaltender Brian Makowicz could honestly do nothing about. With about 4:00 left in the second period, Eastern Michigan was called for a 5 minute major kneeing penalty which gave Oakland University a huge opportunity to take advantage in this highly defensive, physical game. Eastern however was able to survive the Grizzlies attack in the period, and were able to get into the locker room with the score 2-1 and about 48 seconds left in the Oakland University power play.

The third period as was stated began with Oakland on the power play, but the Eagles were able to successfully kill it off and were rewarded just 1:35 into the period shortly after the Eagles returned to full strength on a goal from Derek Porter. Porter received an excellent pass right in the front of the net and pounded the puck past goaltender Andrew Hanson, to tie the score up at 2-2. The Eagles were then called for another pair of penalties in the period thus giving Oakland a couple more opportunities that they could not take advantage of, including a 5 on 3 power play.  A common theme though also developed. The Eagles had three two on one opportunities and a clear breakaway that were stopped easily by Hanson, and on the other end of the ice Senior Goaltender Brian Markowicz was making the similar stops. The game got interesting though with 56 seconds left. Eastern Michigan was in the Oakland University zone and after an EMU shot, the puck appeared to go over the back of the Oakland goaltender, and appeared from a distance to have crossed the line. However, the goal was waved off but Hanson who had played an incredible game went to the locker room hurt and didn't return for the rest of the game. So thus, with 56 seconds left in a 2-2 hockey game, the Grizzlies had to depend on Freshman Goaltender Collin Chase to complete the game. The third period ended with a pair of rushes on both sides, but it wasn't enough to break the deadlock.

Overtime began very uneventful as both sides looked quite fatigued from the three hard hitting periods of hockey. However, the Eagles found the back of the net on a beautiful deflection in front of the net, as Derek Porter put in his second goal of the night, putting it past Chase to give the Eagles a huge 3-2 victory in OT sending the Ann Arbor Ice Cube into celebration.

Oakland University on this night proved that they are a solid team that can really enforce their will upon their opponents as they play an aggressive brand of hockey that reminded me quite similar to that of the style that the Eagles played a few years ago. They were a big, physical team and played a great game on this night, dead even with the Eagles. It was a shame though that Hanson got hurt as he was phenomenal in net making key stop after key stop helping to keep OU in the game.

Ultimately the Eagles found a way to win this game, but there were a few issues. The Eagles had some problems with controlling the puck on the night, as they gave Oakland several opportunities that probably shouldn't have existed. The Eagles also couldn't produce anything with their power play. Defensively as well, there were several times in which an Oakland player was allowed to freely skate in front of the Eagles net without having any resistance at all. The Eagles were lucky several times in my opinion. However, bottom line they played an even game with the #11 team Oakland University. It was a fun, entertaining game and i'm glad that the Eagles won. 

Looking Ahead:
The Eagles are in the home stretch of their regular season as they have a pair of home and home CSCHL Series with the other two CSCHL Schools in the state of Michigan in Western Michigan and Michigan-Dearborn. First up, is the Wolves of Michigan-Dearborn. For the first time in a long while, the series will begin in Ann Arbor with a Friday Night affair, with the series shifting to Dearborn next Saturday Night at the U of M Dearborn Field House.

GO EMU!
-Kevin