Defenseman Jacob DeSano of the Division 1 Oakland Men’s Hockey team recently hit a career high of 80 points.

DeSano’s 80^th point came on Saturday, January 7 with a goal against Western Michigan. The Grizzlies defeated the Broncos 10-3 that night.

“It’s a good goal that I wanted to reach. One of my goals is to reach 100 points,” said DeSano. “When we have guys getting points like that, obviously the team is going to be doing well. There are a lot of milestones this year.”

DeSano has been playing hockey since he was four years old. He has had a storied hockey career, in which he has shared with many of his other teammates since he began playing. DeSano had started playing ice hockey with the Rochester Atlers alongside fellow Oakland teammate, Forward Jordan MacDonald. For DeSano, it has come full circle for him, starting out playing at the Onyx Ice Arena and now playing for a college team at the same arena he started.

After his senior year of high school, DeSano was drafted by the North Iowa Outlaws in the North American Hockey League.

“I went to their camp, made the team and played half a season. Then I came home, decided to go to school, came to Oakland and have been here ever since,” said DeSano.

DeSano is majoring in human resource development at Oakland University. While he still has another year of classes left to take after this semester, this is his senior season for the hockey team.

The Oakland team is ranked 14^th in the Coaches polls with a record of 16-10-1. DeSano has 11-assists on the season currently for the Grizzlies hockey team.

“Diz is one of the anchors of our blueline and a leader on and off the ice,” said Director of Hockey Operations Corey Hagood. “To have him out there means so much because he is smart with the puck and brings a sense of calm. He flat out knows how to play.  To have him and Dustin Hopfner back there gives us two of the best defensemen in the nation.”

Over the weekend, the Oakland Grizzlies played a two-game series, in which they swept, against University of Michigan-Dearborn and a single game against Grand Valley which resulted in a loss.

The next big series coming up for the Oakland team is against Davenport in February. Davenport are the rivals of the Grizzlies, and have a five-game series for the ‘Good Luck Duck’, a trophy for bragging rights. Currently, that series is tied 1-1 this season, but Oakland has a chance to win the Duck for the first time in five years with two wins.

“For that, you don’t really have to do anything to psych yourself up for that. I’ve been here for four years and have never won that Good Luck Duck,” said DeSano. “Every year [Davenport] won it, they’ve won nationals.”

“We have a big picture of the Duck in our room painted in the Davenport colors, so every time we walk in, it gives us something to push for,” DeSano said.

With roughly two months left in the season for the Grizzlies, DeSano and the rest of the team have a lot of time to reach more milestones this year.