New Faces, Same Traditions
2019-2020 Season in Review

With many players moving on the year before, Oakland University DIII Hockey had as many as 13 new faces during the course of the 2019-2020 campaign. The season began with a rough go against a new team to Oakland University in Notre Dame. The early defeats contributed to a rather slower start than previous years, with a 10-6-2-2 record at the semester break. However, the program saw a team that had many highlights in the first semester. Games won against rival Hope College, MCHC East rival Central Michigan, Grand Valley, and Adrian kept the season in check, even while missing many players during this stretch of games. Scoring three goals on the powerplay at Saginaw to win 6-5 helped keep composure going as the new players began to settle in for the season. Although injuries and suspensions were abundant down the stretch of the first semester, the Golden Grizzlies continued to stay afloat in the North Rankings through the end of 2019. As the second semester began, the team sat in 9th place in the North Rankings and looked to continue to build towards tournament time.

With two additions for the second semester, junior forward Michael Sana and freshman goalie Michael Zeleney, Oakland continued to battle with top North teams. This included a weekend to remember for freshman forward Brendan Danou who led the team with an eight-point weekend against Northwood in the middle of the second semester. The team would go 3-2-1-0 in the second semester and would finish the regular season in 6th in the North rankings. In the first round of the MCHC league playoffs, Oakland relied on freshman goaltender Michael Zeleney to get the job done against Saginaw Valley in a thrilling 3-2 OT win. Oakland would go on to lose 6-5 to the league playoff champion Central Michigan the next night. Lastly, as highlighted earlier, the regional tournament saw the Golden Grizzlies win two games against Indiana and Ferris State to advance to the National Tournament. Secondary scoring propelled the Grizzlies both nights from Richie Metz, Donnie Wood, and Brendan Danou along with stellar goaltending from Domenico Munaco. Overall, the Golden Grizzlies found a way to get it done again this season.