By Brittany Ochtinsky

Senior Reporter

GRAND RAPIDS/ROCHESTER — After six straight unsuccessful attempts the past two seasons, Oakland hockey head coach Sean Hogan has finally found the key to beating Davenport University.

It was never a lack of talent, as Hogan’s teams won the national championship both years, but he was only 1-6-1 against the Panthers heading into last weekend.

Instead, Hogan discovered the best way to crack their archrival was to better prepare his team mentally. The approach paid dividends last Friday when the Grizzlies downed the Panthers 5-2.

“At practice, during the break, we gave them a different handout each day,” said Hogan. “The first day’s had different quotes from former players about the Davenport rivalry and how important it is. The following week, we talked about accountability.”

The bad blood began to boil when forward Jonah Rogowski and goaltender Chris Joswiak transferred from Oakland to Davenport following the Grizzlies Division II championship in 2006 and has grown from there.

With 14 new players on this year’s roster, Hogan felt it was important that they knew what to expect coming into last weekend’s games.

“I told them they need to focus their energies on playing a complete hockey game. In these rivalry games, you can feel the hatred. You can feel it in the rink and the guys get caught up in it and they start worrying about taking kids’ heads off instead of playing hockey,” Hogan said.

The focus in Friday’s contest was unlike any other game this year. Kevin Kranker scored goals on two separate power plays 46.2 seconds apart in the second period and added a short-handed tally in the third to run away with the game for the Grizzlies.

“Kevin is probably the best player on both teams right now,” said Hogan. “That’s an amazing thing to say when he’s only 19 years old and he’s not even that big of a guy.”

OU’s Jesse Worrell tied the game in the first and Brent Cooper made it 2-1 in the middle frame. Collin Chase stopped 39 shots and improved his personal record to 9-6.

But Davenport came back a different team Saturday night and Rogowski rejoined the lineup after missing Friday’s game.

The first shot of the game came off the stick of Panther Dayne Gluting, who beat Chase. The goal eventually stood as the game-winner, as Oakland was shut out for the second time this season, 2-0.

“I tried to explain to them that Davenport would be a better team tonight. They had two guys who had literally just gotten off a plane from Europe [Friday],” said Hogan, referring to Davenport’s players who played for the Division II Selects Team, playing five games in six nights, and went a perfect 5-0.

Chase stood on his head once again and turned aside 30 shots, but still came out with the loss.

“I don’t know how many defensive breakdowns we had that Collin bailed us out of. This game could have easily been five or six nothing,” Hogan said.

The battle between the two teams is hardly over, as they meet once more this season, February 1-2.

 “I thought [Friday] was probably the best game of the year, but the weekend isn’t complete without two,” said Cooper. “Next time, we just have to prepare ourselves a little bit better and limit our mistakes.”

Men’s hockey news and notes

OU’s Kevin Kranker celebrated his birthday Nov. 30 and, since then, has had eight goals in five games, compared to four goals in the previous 15 games

The Panthers outscored Oakland 26-11 last season. This season, the margin is much closer, as the Golden Grizzlies have a 5-4 advantage.

Two new faces join the Golden Grizzlies roster this semester. Forward Cody Austin transferred from UMass-Boston’s NCAA Division III team, where he tallied 12 points (5 goals, 7 assists) in 26 games. Defenseman Colin Ronayne attended the Golden Grizzlies’ summer camps, but didn’t enroll at the university until this semester. Last season, Ronayne played with current teammate Jesse Worrell on the Metro Jets in the Central States Hockey League. He accumulated six assists and 35 penalty minutes in 13 games.

Hogan believes that with two wins over Stony Brook this weekend, his team could solidify its bid to the ACHA Nationals. The Grizzlies are currently ranked 11th and have only three other ranked opponents—Stony Brook (16), Adrian (23) and Arizona (25) left on the schedule.

—Brittany Ochtinsky, Senior Reporter