Bridesmaid no longer: Oxford skates to first league crown
LEAGUE LEADERS: Oxford's Nick Hocker carries the puck towards the net during a game earlier this season. Hocker and the Wildcats captured their first league title in the program's 11-year history this month, topping the OAA White Division with a 9-1-2 record. Staff Photo | Dan Stickradt
BY DAN STICKRADT
SENIOR EDITOR
dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com
TROY— It was bound to happen sooner or later, but Oxford’s hockey team can finally call itself a league champion.
The Wildcats, in their 11th season as a varsity program, captured its first-ever league championship Friday with a 6-1 win over Royal Oak at the Troy Sports Center. That was preceded two days earlier by a 2-1 win over Berkley. Those victories secured the championship outright in the seven-school OAA White Division.
Oxford is now 13-8-2 overall and finished 9-1-2 in conference play in its first season in the OAA-White
“I couldn’t be more proud of these guys,” said Oxford head coach Dave Hague, who is in his eighth season with the Wildcats, sticking through some leans years in the process. “Coming into a new league, we didn’t know what to expect. But we kept working hard and battled through some close games.
“There were a lot of teams that were very close this season in the league. It’s a great league with some good competition,” said Hague. “I think that makes it even more rewarding is that there is a lot of parody. There are 3-4 teams that are very close.”
Oxford began its hockey program in 2000-01, with the Wildcats finishing second in the Flint Metro League to Fenton. The teams struggled through numerous losing seasons after that point before finishing 20-6-0 last season. Again, Oxford finished in the bridesmaid role to Fenton last winter in its final season in the FML (the school competed in that league for all sports for 27 schools years).
“We have been second to Fenton twice,” said Hague, who took over in the 2003-04 season and is just the third head coach, the others being Rick Higginbotham (one season) and Mike Wolanin (two seasons). “We have come a long ways since I’ve been here.”
Hague reminded his team that the Wildcats were 1-24-1 in his first season. The year before he came, Oxford won just three games.
“We knew that we could only get better,” said Hague, who is joined by longtime assistant coach Rick Ignani, who has been with the Wildcats all 11 years. “It’s amazing to see where we are now compared to my first year here.”
Oxford lost its two best players from last season, including all-state goaltender Corey Hrschuk. The Wildcats returned over three quarters of the roster and matured as a group to claim the championship.
“We lost some good kids. All too often coaches worry about what they lost instead of what you have coming back,” reminded Hague. “We had a lot of kids coming back from last season and we picked up some nice newcomers that have blended in nicely. Last season we had six defensemen and all of them came back. We have seven defensemen this season. On offense, we are very balanced. We have a bunch of guys that are close in scoring.”
Oxford, which will wrap up the regular season Saturday against Ortonville Brandon, has now posted three straight winning seasons for the first time.
Stephen Fritz scored the first two goals in the title-clinching win over Royal Oak (4-10-2, 2-8-2). Nick Hocker added two goals and an assist, Nolan Chapman had a goal and two assists, and Austin Kurkowski also scored for the Wildcats.
Oscar Alexanderson made 27 saves between the pipes for the Wildcats.
Sean Panetta scored late in the third period for Royal Oak.
OAA WHITE STANDINGS
Oxford 12-8-3 9-1-2
West Bloomfield 11-8-1 8-2-1
Bloomfield Hills United 11-7-4 7-2-1
Berkley 10-6-5 5-4-3
Royal Oak 4-10-2 2-8-2
Auburn Hills Avondale 5-11-0 4-8-0
Troy 0-10-0 2-14-2
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Category: High School, Oxford, Prep Wraps
