The Oakland Post

Hockey trophy has strange origins

By Kyle Bauer
Posted: Tuesday, February 9th, 2010 at 5:24 pm | Last Updated: Wednesday, February 10th, 2010 at 12:02 am Comments Print This Email This Tweet This Delicious

The Oakland University club hockey team faced off against its biggest rival, Davenport University, over the weekend with a trophy on the line. After splitting the first two games of the series, the third and final game came down to a shootout to decide the winner Saturday.

On the decisive shot, Davenport University forward Marc Thompson moved in, kicked the puck from skate to stick, and faked to the right, pulling OU goaltender Alex Pikunas out of position. He fired a shot into the open left side of the net, ending the game and winning the series.

The Davenport bench cleared. Thompson was gang-tackled by his teammates in celebration. One DU player stayed back to grab the trophy — a concrete duck statue, painted red and black — from behind the bench. He hoisted it as if it were the Stanley Cup.

In the Oakland–Davenport rivalry, that duck is as close to the Stanley Cup as anyone could ever imagine.

The “Good Luck Duck,” as it has been dubbed, is the symbol of a rivalry filled with bad blood that goes back to the beginning of the last decade. The rivalry has included fights on the ice and off, player transfers, a war of words, jarring hits, awesome goals and unbelievable finishes. The winner of the season-series between these two teams earns the duck, which inadvertently became a trophy on a February night two years ago.

“It started when the duck was mysteriously removed from Oakland’s locker room and ended up in Grand Rapids. We were playing on Friday night and Oakland came back the next night and got it back, so it went from there,” Davenport coach Paul Lauden said.

Everyone you ask will tell you a different variation of the story. The initial presence of the duck is completely shrouded in mystery.

“I guess we stole the duck, but we made it ours,” Davenport senior Adam Thomas said.

When the duck was stolen it caused a whirlwind of trash talking, finger pointing and confusion. This led the coaches to converse.

“We had a meeting with their coaches and we decided that the rivalry was so good we would play for the duck every year,” Oakland head coach Jeremy Bachusz said.

Some were wondering if Oakland would make any big changes in preparation for DU this season, especially with a new coach at the helm.

“We don’t prepare too differently, but the older players on the team will usually get up in the locker room and tell stories from past games and how good it would feel to beat them,” Bachusz said.

OU took the first game of the series Thursday night, shutting out Davenport 3-0. But the Panthers captured the second game Friday by a 4-1 score.

Ryan Zuke, a freshman fourth liner on the Grizzlies squad, said he was quickly acclimated to the rivalry.

“When I first got here, I didn’t really understand; then it was explained to me that they stole it from our locker room (and it) made me hate them right there,” Zuke said. “Then the way they put it on the ice in warm-ups and how they celebrate … I have no respect for them because they don’t show it to us and that is enough to keep me hating them into the future.”

The Grizzlies formerly played in Division II of the ACHA and moved up in 2006. But prior to that, Oakland played in the league where Davenport currently resides. The two rivals will become division opponents once again as the Panthers are moving up to division one next season.

That raises a question: How will ownership of the “Good Luck Duck” be decided in the future?

The teams will face each other four times per year beginning next season, which creates the possibility of a tie in the series.

The Grizzlies don’t concern themselves as much about the actual duck as they do a conference championship.

“We can still get a ring,” OU captain Cody Austin said. “The duck is just stupid and made out of concrete; that is about our pride. It’s our pride that hurts. The national tournament is way more important.” But with pride and tradition in mind, Austin does see value in the rivalry.

“This rivalry brings everyone on the team together,” Austin said.