North Oakland posts shutout of GPN in OAA-MAC Showcase
The North Oakland Eagles rolled to an 8-0 victory over the Grosse Pointe North Norsemen in the OAA-MAC Showcase on Monday morning.
The first period was a close affair. North Oakland converted a couple of chances in a generally even period and led 2-0 on goals by Peter White and Matthew Wagner.
But they broke it open in the second period. North Oakland scored three goals in a span of two minutes midway through the period to turn what had been a 3-0 game into a 6-0 lead.
“I think we just got a little tired and out of position. They’ve got some good players over there, and I think they just wore us down a little bit,” Norsemen head coach Rob Blum said. “They did a good job of getting us off our game.”
The Eagles got multi-goal games from both Wagner and Max Hopkins. Connor Brewer (one goal, two assists) also had a big game. Overall, eight different players picked up at least one point as the Eagles as a team consistently got the puck low and drove the net.
“We had a little bit harder forecheck than normally we do, and I think they figured out all they need to do is get pucks on net,” Eagles head coach Eric Button said.
North Oakland’s special teams were also quite effective, generating two power play goals and a shorthanded goal while killing all six Grosse Pointe North power plays.
The Norsemen had some chances in the first two periods, generating 17 shots in the first two periods. But they could not beat goalie Dominic Geric, who picked up the shutout in net for the Eagles.
With the win, North Oakland improves to 6-8 overall. The Eagles will finish the week with a pair of Oakland Activities Association White road games against Bloomfield Hills on Thursday and Troy on Saturday.
“It’s about what we expected. We expected to be .500, so we’re a little bit behind that. But also the toughest part of our schedule is done, and we’ll start working towards the second half,” Button said.
Grosse Pointe North (1-11) hosts Farmington on Thursday and then jumps back into division play when it hosts Marysville on Saturday in a Macomb Area Conference White Division game.
“The good news is we’re pretty young. We’ve got freshmen, sophomores who have been playing well. It’s just not a lot of wins coming from it, but we are getting better, and we’re looking to improve,” Blum said.