By BRITTANY OCHTINSKY

Senior Reporter

 

ROCHESTER/EAST

LANSING — With two hard-fought battles, the Golden Grizzlies swept Michigan State University last weekend.

 

 

Scoreboard-wise, however, the victories were not as convincing as they would have liked.

The Grizzlies beat the Spartans 4-3 in a shootout both Thursday night and Saturday afternoon, extending the team’s shootout streak to three games.

 

 

Not only was the outcome the same in the two games, but Oakland fell behind early both games and struggled to make a third period comeback, though Brett Haugh’s game-tying goal at the 12:37 mark of the third period Thursday wasn’t quite as dramatic as Steve Piccoli’s with 2.7 seconds left Saturday.

 

 

Both nights, Brent Cooper and Jarrett Samp beat Michigan State goaltender Justin Sand in the shootout.

 

 

The main difference between the two games laid mostly in Oakland’s goalies, with Collin Chase getting the start Thursday and Andrew Hansen starting Saturday.

 

 

“I always have faith in Hanner,” said head coach Sean Hogan of Hansen. “I think he earned the right to play [Saturday].”

 

 

Chase turned aside 24 shots in regulation, faced none in the five-minute, four-on-four overtime stanza and stopped three of four Spartans in the shootout.

 

 

“I kind of had a little fun with [the shootout], took it shot by shot and whatever happens, happens,” said Chase.

 

 

Two days later, Hansen stopped 23 shots and denied all four Spartans in the shootout.

“I didn’t feel any pressure, it was weird. I was about ready to fall asleep, honestly,” said Hansen. “I’ve kind of taken up a new approach, I’m sick of getting nervous before games. If I win, I win. If I don’t… I get as prepared as I can, that’s the best you can do.”

 

 

After falling behind 2-0 in a rare Thursday night contest at the Onyx, James Moran got Oakland on the board in the second period when he picked up Nick Ranck’s rebound to net his first goal as a Grizzly. The defenseman had been moved up to forward in the absence of Cody Austin and Steve Piccoli and his play was immediately improved.

 

 

“I like forechecking, dumping the puck in and hit and do things you can’t do on ‘D.’ It’s a nice change of pace,” said Moran. “If they wanted me to play goalie, I’d play goalie. Whatever they want.”

 

 

Michigan State pulled ahead late in the second, but before the period expired, Tony Yearego put Oakland back in the running with his ninth goal of the season. Haugh tied the game in the third to force the game into overtime.

 

 

“It’s all in the duck, I tap him every period and I got a little bit of a stick tap in the third period, so maybe that gave me luck on the stick,” said Haugh about his “Lucky Duck,” the goose in the Grizzlies locker room that Davenport hijacked the Friday before, but made its safe return the next night.

 

 

Saturday afternoon at Munn Ice Arena in East Lansing, Brent Cooper netted a pair of goals to give the Grizzlies a 2-1 lead in the second period, but the Spartans added two more to leave Oakland scrambling in the final seconds to tie up the game.

 

 

Hogan pulled Hansen with under a minute left and put out his top three forwards, Cooper, Piccoli and Kevin Kranker, and his top three defensemen, Yearego, Samp and Todd Orlando.

The Grizzlies hammered away at Sand and Piccoli’s shot finally went through.

 

 

Last weekend was the first meeting between Oakland, the reigning ACHA Division I national champion, and Michigan State, the reigning ACHA Division II national champion. Both teams have struggled this season, Oakland splitting most series with their opponents and Michigan State only one game above .500 and only having won one game since the semester break.