tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6114890463234144291.post-9747670943783707102007-03-07T07:16:00.000-08:002007-03-08T08:28:59.546-08:00Grizzlies off to good start in Tournament<br /><br />By Brittany Ochtinsky<br />Contributing Reporter<br /><br />If you know anything about Oakland University's hockey team, you know third-period comebacks are non-existent. However, if you know anything about Nationals, you know anything can happen. You know to expect the unexpected and the Golden Grizzlies proved they wouldn't go down without a fight.<br /><br />Luckily, they didn't go down at all. Well, at least not in the end.<br /><br />The Grizzlies found themselves trailing 3-1 in the third period against Lindenwood in the opening round of games in the National Championship tournament. The final period was a see-saw of emotion, but when the final buzzer sounded, the Grizzlies advanced to the next round with a 5-4 victory.<br /><br />Will McMahon and Jordan Ingram scored less than a minute apart to knot the score.<br /><br />"Gordie pulled me aside on the bench and said 'All right Jordan, we need one right now,' and I went out that shift and scored," said Ingram. "He had a premonition, I guess. I just threw it on the net, I wasn't looking for a corner or anything. I saw it go in and that's when the magic happened."<br /><br />A minute later, Lindenwood came back and regained the lead with a goal from Larry Kopecky. But that just fueled the Grizzlies' fire even more. <br /><br />"When Will scored, everybody got really excited and they were ready to go. Then Jordan scored and I thought we were gonna have a chance to run away with the game," said Head Coach Sean Hogan. "We finally solved their goalie. Then they scored and I wasn't worried. I still felt like we had had momentum and those power play opportunities really helped us." <br /><br />Garrett Kondratek and Brent Cooper showed that when the goals came for the Grizzlies, they came in pairs. They netted goals a minute apart to tie the game and then finally pull ahead for the first time in the game.<br /><br />"We were tied 4-4 and I had a feeling whoever scored the next goal was gonna win the game," said Cooper, who also scored the opening goal for the Grizzlies in the first period. "We were on the powerplay and there was a scrum in front of the net. John Parrish threw the puck on net, the goalie kicked out a save and tried to put the puck behind the net. I stole it from him and roofed it up, top cheese and we held on to win."<br /><br />Lindenwood found themselves on a 5-on-3 power play with five minutes to play in the game, but couldn't come up with anything. Oakland's Jon Paul Ferrari took a penalty with less than a minute and Lindenwood had yet another chance to tie it up with an empty net, but to no avail.<br /><br />"Every single year we've been in the National Tournament, the first game has been a struggle," said Hogan. "We won the first game in overtime twice and we were down by three goals last year, so it's a good sign."Brittany Ochtinsky, Contributing Reporterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06860446807331315241noreply@blogger.com