History was made on March 2 when the Oakland University Division I hockey team finished second in the nation after losing to Delaware.

Oakland went into the ACHA National Tournament championship game Wednesday night as a No. 13 seed facing then-second-seeded Delaware. The Golden Grizzlies lost 5-1, but finished second in the nation after a five-game winning streak.

“I couldn’t be more proud of (the team),” Nick Tomczyk, assistant head coach, said. “They were determined and came out to prove everybody wrong.”

Forward Jordan MacDonald played his final game as a Grizzly against Delaware and scored Oakland’s lone goal. The senior star forward also led the entire tournament in scoring.

“I was very surprised by the way the team performed this past week at nationals,” said MacDonald. “The team had a roller coaster season. We lost our last two regular season games, but were still able to put this behind us and had an extremely strong fight at nationals.”

Junior goalie Matt Toter said that he takes partial blame for the loss in the championship game, but it made him a better player.

“The seniors were very emotional knowing that they lost their last and most important game of their career,” MacDonald said. “Looking back on it now, and after talking to many of the other seniors, we are all very proud of what the team has accomplished.”

‘Unforgettable’ upset

The biggest upset throughout the tournament may have been Oakland defeating Penn State.

The Nittany Lion Icers are heading to the NCAA Division 1 hockey league, playing as an independent next season before joining the Big Ten hockey conference for the 2013-2014 season. The Golden Grizzlies sent the projected tournament champions Penn State out with a 5-3 loss, marking the end of their ACHA membership.

“We were never supposed to even play in that game let alone win,” MacDonald said. “As a number 13 seed, to accomplish what we did and send Penn State, with a few recruits from their NCAA team, out of the ACHA national tournament will always be unforgettable.”

Oakland also upset Penn State in the 2007 championship game to later be crowned national champions.

“Some of their players on that roster are going to be on their NCAA team for them, so to beat a team that skilled is a pretty big accomplishment,” Tomcyzk said. “We were able to send them out with a loss.”

 

‘Lights out’

Toter stayed between the pipes throughout all five of the games that the Grizzlies played in the tournament.

Accumulating over 312 minutes of play, he recorded 159 shots on goal with 145 saves, allowing just 14 goals throughout the tournament.

The goalie had a 91.2 percent save record and had one shutout victory against Mercyhurst in round one.

“(Toter) was lights out. If it wasn’t for him, we may not have made it through all those games,” Tomczyk said. “He played to his full potential.”

Though the team fell short in the ACHA championship game, they had other successes this season outside of the tournament.

The Golden Grizzlies also won the GLCHL regular season title, which resulted in the automatic bid for the national tournament. But their biggest success outside of the tournament may have come from their victory over Davenport.

MacDonald recognized freshmen players Billy Balent and Anthony Colizza as breakout stars this season and expressed his hopes of Oakland hockey progressing to the NCAA level in years to come.

“The team will continue to grow from here,” MacDonald said. “The run we made will spark more interest in the area to watch the games and cheer on Oakland University.”

Defenseman Dustin Hopfner, MacDonald and Toter were named to the ACHA Division One All-National Tournament first team. Forward Adam Novack was named to the second team.

“Now we have that experience to finish the job next year,” Tomczyk said. “We ended as the number two team in the country and now we have to keep it.”

Contact staff reporter Damien Dennis via email at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @djdennisOU