Oxford skates away from Avondale to keep OAA-White lead
BY DAN STICKRADT
SENIOR EDITOR
Staff Photo | Dan Stickradt
dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com
TROY— Oxford hockey coach Dave Hague had a few choice words for his team following the second period Wednesday. The Wildcats were sitting uncomfortably with a 5-4 lead over Auburn Hills Avondale and playing anything but inspired hockey.
Message received.
The Wildcats, coming off a 0-1-1 streak, hounded Avondale in the third period with an 18-4 shots edge in the frame, scoring two goals in the final 13 minutes, and sending the Yellowjackets back to the hive with a 7-4 defeat at the Troy Sports Arena.
Nolan Chapman netted the hat trick with an assist and Nick Hocker scored twice in leading Oxford (8-5-2, 6-1-1) to the OAA White Division win, which kept the Wildcats at the top of division.
“We have been in a little bit of a slump right now,” said Chapman, noting his team was coming off a tie to Berkley and a loss to West Bloomfield. “We needed to win this game and we are going to keep working hard, keep our winning streak going. We’re still in the league lead.”
Hocker netted what proved to be the game-winner with 53 seconds left in the second period, off a feed from Chapman and Stephan Fritz. The momentum was carried over into the third frame.
Chapman added his second and third tallies on the night, one coming with 12:31 left to give Oxford a 6-4 advantage and he also tucked in an insurance tally with 1:35 remaining to cap the scoring.
Hague wasn’t shy to give his team a little pep talk at the end of the second stanza.
“We were just playing really casual,” said Hague. “We were very complacent with no sense of urgency. We had a little talk with them and told them to kick it in gear. We had a pretty good third (period).
“We’ve been in a slump and we acknowledge that,” continued Hague. “The last game we played all right, we just beat ourselves that last game a little bit. The bottom line was we needed to win tonight to stay in the lead.”
Oxford took a 1-0 lead on close-range goal from Tim Perks with 8:31 left in the opening period. Every time the Wildcats cashed in their chips during the bulk of the first two periods, Avondale had the answer.
Oxford led 2-1 at the end of the first, with Avondale tying the game at 2-2, 3-3 and 4-4 in the second frame. The Yellowjackets (2-10-1, 1-7-0) ran out of steam in the third period.
Avondale has ventured through a season of injuries this winter and lost two more key players in the game, including leading scorer Steven Carter to injury.
“We’re right down against it. We lost our leading scorer at the time (Derek Piercy), he’s still in our top five, in the fourth game. Then we lost (Carter) tonight, he’s our leading scorer on the team, as he went down,” said Karl Daiek, Avondale’s first-year head coach. “It happens. The Red Wings have the same thing going on, so what do you do? The only difference is that I can’t go to Grand Rapids and pull up somebody that’s played a high level of hockey. There’s not a lot of experience here.
“I can’t complain. They played hard,” continued Daiek. “We made some adjustments to the system. Hopefully, we’ll get better. I just thought we ran out of gas.”
Johnathan Fritz, Joe Spurlin, Justin Przytakoski and Connor Traskal scored in succession for Avondale, the latter coming with 2:37 left in the second period that tied the game at 4-4. Three of Avondale’s goals came on the power play.
Fritz finished with a goal and two assists. Patric Hanson finished with 18 saves for the Wildcats, which held a 43-22 edge with shots.
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Category: Auburn Hills Avondale, Oxford, Prep Wraps
