The rivalry between the Division 1 Oakland Hockey team and the Davenport University Hockey team is summarized by one thing; the coveted trophy duck.

The trophy has fueled the rivalry between the two teams for six seasons.

“There is a sculpture duck we stole from Davenport and they stole it back,” Senior Captain Jordan Macdonald said. “After all the controversy over it, the coaches decided we would play for it each season.”

This season Oakland is seeking redemption by reclaiming their duck trophy.

“The first season we won it and won nationals. The next four seasons, Davenport has won it and won nationals every year.” Macdonald said.

Every season, Oakland plays a five game series against Davenport. Whoever wins the best out of five games wins the duck and the glory that comes with it. Oakland played the first two games of this series on Dec 2 and Dec 3. On Friday they swept Davenport 5-0. Davenport stole the win on Saturday with 3-2 victory.

“Friday’s game we played really well. They only beat us by one on Saturday with a late goal,” Macdonald said. “I think second semester we have a good chance to win the next two games.”

Head Coach Jeremy Bachusz was pleased with the outcome of the weekend as well.

“We able to come out with a big win on Friday but Saturday was a little tougher game, a little faster pace. Davenport is a good team,” Bachusz said. “Overall we were very happy with the way the weekend went.”

The 12-8-1 team anticipates doing very well in GLCH playoffs as well as nationals.

“I think we are going to be ranked high going into playoffs,” Macdonald said. “We also anticipate going to nationals as well.”

Oakland is currently ranked as one of the top three teams in the league along with Adrian and Davenport.

“We are all very close in talent. It will be a battle to the very end but we are in the running for the league title right now.” Bachusz said.

An increase in the volume of talent has lead to the confidence about the rest of the season.

“This season we are a lot deeper,” Macdonald said. “Last year we only had a few lines that were really solid and it fell off from there. This season we have four very solid lines.

Bachusz also has confidence in this talented but young team.

“We are a little bit of a different team this year. Most of them are young. We have a lot of freshman and we did a good job recruiting,” Bachusz said. “I believe we are going to get the duck back this year.”

Oakland expects to finish the season strong as well as defeating their rival.

“I think we have a good chance of winning the duck, a lot better than in the past.” Macdonald said.