Friday night at the Onyx Ice Arena in Rochester, the Oakland University Gold Grizzlies hockey club will host the Liberty University Flames in a two-game set, continuing a frustrating first half of their 2010-11 campaign.

Liberty presents a familiar story for the Grizzlies. In the club’s second meeting, Oakland fell to the Flames 5-4 in a shootout defeat. That would be the first of four shootout losses Oakland has suffered this season, including a recent string of three in a row to Oklahoma and Adrian.

Close has been the case for the 14th ranked Grizzlies. Of their nine total losses, six have been by two goals or less. While it is a cause for dejection, Oakland refuses to let it be a reason for making excuses.

“The chances are there, we need to buckle down and take care of it in regulation,” captain Colin Ronayne said of the shootout losses.

Assistant coach Gordie Schaeffler saw a more disturbing trend in the three shoot out losses.

“We were up going into the third period of every one of those games and we lost our composure and took some dumb penalties,” Schaeffler said. “We need to play smarter with the lead and everything else will work itself out.”

If you ask any player, they’ll tell you that resiliency will have to be a theme for the Grizzlies to find consistent success in the second half of the season.

“We can’t just sit here frustrated. This is tough but this is also good because we’re fighting hard,” sophomore forward Alex Hoffman said. “We can’t just get stuck on each loss. Hopefully we’ll put together some wins and get some emotion going with the opponents we have coming up.”

While beating Liberty is always a tough task for the Grizzlies, looming on their calendar, Dec. 10 and 11,  is the rivalry against the Davenport University Panthers. It’s a focus for Oakland every season, especially with the new formation of the Great Lakes Collegiate Hockey League, Davenport is now in the same conference as Oakland, giving the games more weight than ever.

The Panthers come in with an imposing 19-2-2 record, with only one conference loss to Adrian on Nov. 4. Davenport has given OU trouble in the past, but the Grizzlies showed improvement last season, with a split in two games including a 3-0 shut out Feb. 4 in Rochester.

The deciding game was a 3-2 shootout victory for Davenport, giving them the season series win and the “Good Luck Duck” trophy, which is awarded annually to the winner of the season series between the two teams.

“We have to frustrate them to win,” said first year assistant coach Nick Tomczyk. “They’re very deep. If we play smart, we can develop a quick transition game to hang with them. Playing physical and quick will throw them off.”

The Grizzlies have shown that they can play some of the best teams in the country tightly. Adrian and Oklahoma are top five programs and Oakland has also had to go on the road and play Ohio University, which was in the top five at the time.

These close games against top programs could allow some to make the argument that the Grizzlies should be ranked higher than their 14th position, a ranking which would leave them out of the ACHA National Tournament.

Despite being able to hang with some of the higher ranked opponents, Tomczyk said he thinks the Grizzlies’ ranking is fair.

“All these close games and shoot out losses were games we should have won,” Tomczyk said. “There were also a couple losses to teams we were supposed to beat. When you lose games you’re supposed to or should have won, you’re going to be ranked around 14th.”

Schaeffler, whose coaching mainly focuses on defense, preaches responsibility first.

“You have to be responsible in your own end. This is something we haven’t done between penalties and turnovers,” he said. “If we can correct that, a good defense starts a good offense and everything will click.”

In its last two games, OU may have found a turning point. In the two game series against Adrian, Oakland fell, losing a late lead and then were victim to another shoot out loss. The following day on the road against Adrian, they won convincingly, 4-1. Grizzlies general manager Will McMahon said he was pleased with the outcomes possible long-term ramifications.

“The win against Adrian, following a loss like that the night before, showed how much mental toughness this team has,” McMahon said. “We came together early, had a bit of a slump, but I think this program is coming back into shape for the second half.”