By Kyle Bauer

Contributing Reporter

In the 2007 home opener, the Oakland University hockey team

was upset by Michigan-Dearborn in a one goal game. In the

2008 home opener, history repeated itself.

For the second year in a

row, Michigan-Dearborn played spoiler with a 6-5 victory in a shootout Saturday at the ONYX Rochester Ice Arena.

Michigan-Dearborn won the shootout 3-2. Michael

Macari led Michigan-Dearborn with five points on the night and scored the

go-ahead goal.

With an opportunity to continue the shootout, Grizzlies sophomore

Jesse Worrell was stopped on a glove save by Stephen Yu,

clinching the surprising series sweep for Michigan-Dearborn.

“We battled back and to lose in a shootout, it’s so tough,” Head Coach Sean Hogan said. “[Michigan-Dearborn] has a much-improved team and we are still learning. You seen that tonight.”

Macari opened the scoring for Michigan-Dearborn at 1:26 off of a quick

wrist shot beating freshman goaltender Alex Pikanus . Looking to bury

OU early, the Wolves continued to mount the offensive attack,

taking advantage of the rookie goalie and a young defense. Anthony

Rini followed Macari’s goal to make it 2-0 at 6:26. James Telfer

made it a 3-0 game before Macari added his second goal at 13:48 to give Michigan-Dearborn a 4-0 lead.

Junior Brett Haugh came through for OU with his first goal of the

season on the power play with 1:10 left in the first period to cut the

Wolves’ lead down to three at the close of the first period.

In the second period, the Grizzlies outscored Michigan-Dearborn 3-0. Two

freshmen helped OU get the game close as Thomas Mullen scored at 7:31,

cutting the lead in half. Less than two minutes later, Jordan McDonald scored his

first goal, tipping in a puck that had dribbled in between Stephen

Yu’s legs. Kevin Kranker then capitalized with his second goal of the season, at 18:49 of the second to tie the game.

Micheal Macari completed the hat-trick in the third period with his second power play goal. Oakland then answered back with a late power play goal

from sophomore defenseman Dennis Cappa to send the game into a shootout.

Senior defensemen Nick Ranck pointed to defensive play getting OU

into the 4-0 deficit. “We had meltdowns and turnovers. If we play the

system we were taught, we’ll be OK. We didn’t do that against them.”

Next week the Grizzlies will travel to Champaign, Ill. to play

the defending ACHA champion Illinois Fighting Illini, who

are on a 40-game winning streak. The first game of the two-game series is Oct. 3 at 8p.m.