By Brittany Ochtinsky

Senior Reporter

ROCHESTER — This late in the season, there is very little room for error and Oakland University’s club hockey team is struggling to keep those errors to a minimum.

Three ranking periods stand between the Golden Grizzlies and the ACHA national tournament in March and the Grizzlies have a lot of ground to make up after going 1-0-1 last weekend against Stony Brook University. 

Currently at No. 11, Oakland runs the risk of not making it to the tournament if the Grizzlies can’t remain one of the top 16 teams in the league.

Coming off a 2-0 loss to Davenport at home the weekend before, the Grizzlies lacked a sense of urgency to fight for a tournament position in Friday’s 2-1 overtime loss to the Seawolves

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Oakland was held scoreless for 117 minutes and 53 seconds from the time Kevin Kranker scored in the third period against Davenport Jan. 4, through the entire next game and the first two periods of Friday’s contest until Kranker scored in the third period to tie the game and force overtime.

Less than a minute into the five-minute, 4-on-4 overtime period, Stony Brook put the game away when Angelo Serse beat Oakland goalie Collin Chase.

Chase made 33 saves and is one of the only factors that has allowed the Grizzlies to stand a fighting chance in any of the last three games.

Issues with playing consistently have been a recurring theme this season and still leave head coach Sean Hogan baffled.

“I don’t understand it, I don’t understand why we can’t get up for a game like this,” he said. “Stony Brook had the long ride here, they should be the ones tired and looking sluggish, but we came out totally flat-footed.”

The Grizzlies know all too well how road teams come in for a second game well-rested and put out a better effort than the night before, and somehow that appeared to motivate them to come out with a 6-3 win to salvage the weekend.

John Parrish and Jesse Worrell each had two goals while Kranker tied Brent Cooper for the team lead in goals as he continued his scoring tear. Kranker has scored 10 goals in the past seven games. 

Tim Michaels notched his first goal since returning from an injury the night before.

Michaels tore his MCL in early November and was expected to be out 4-6 weeks. But the tear was apparently worse than the doctor first thought and Michaels didn’t even start skating with the team until Monday, giving him only two practices before returning to the lineup Friday.

With only a few weeks left before the national tournament, the team’s captains are aware their leadership will play a pivotal role, especially with an experimental team. 

“We have a really young team, so we have to motivate them sometimes,” Steve Piccoli said.

Captains Cooper and Jarrett Samp each have championship rings from the past two years and Steve Piccoli is looking for his second after joining the team last year.

“Me and Cooper have been trying to talk them up as much as possible, but these guys are old enough. They need to do it on their own. There’s only so much we can do.”