Chips on the ShoulderPublished on: January 24, 2010
Mt. Pleasant, MI — The first three minutes of the weekend made things look as though it would be an easy couple of games for the Grand Valley State University men’s hockey team. From there on out, it was anything but. The Lakers scored three goals in the first 2:05 of the first period on Friday, en route to a 7-3 victory against Central Michigan University but failed to show the same energy on Saturday as the team settled for a 3-3 draw against the Chippewas. Entering the series ranked significantly higher than CMU and boasting a much better record, the Lakers hoped the two matchups would be a tune-up for a much more difficult stretch of games ahead. After falling down quickly on Friday, however, the Chippewas stood toe-to-toe with the Lakers for the rest of the weekend. “Coming into this weekend, in the back of our minds we kind of knew that Central wasn’t as good of a team as we are,” said junior defenseman Jake Ochsner. “The tendency when you play teams like that is to play down to their level, and that was the case this weekend. We didn’t really come out to play and thought we had the game won before it even started.” Despite taking the first game of the series by a four-goal margin, GVSU head coach Mike Forbes was not pleased with his team’s performance on Friday or Saturday. “In both games we got outside the system and the structure that we have had so much success with,” he said. “I think that happens when you go against a team that you perceive to be a weaker team, you take chances offensively and defensively, and I think we got a little bit lazy.” Forbes added the team’s margin of victory on Friday may have disguised the actual level at which they played. “The problem is, if you have success with (bad play), the players don’t realize that what they’re doing isn’t working,” he said. “If you play a game like we did last night when you don’t adhere to our system and don’t play your own game, but win 7-3, you think that you can continue with that behavior and not pay a price for that, and (on Saturday) we did pay a price for that. Hopefully we’ll learn from that.” Things will only get more difficult for the Lakers in the following weeks as they take on the top two teams in the American Collegiate Hockey Association, Davenport University and Michigan State University. The Lakers know to have success in the next two weeks, they must pick up their play. “We’re going to bring all we’ve got in the next couple weeks,” said senior goalie Grant Lyon. “We’re playing the best teams in the region, and we can’t make the mistakes we did against Central. If we play the way we did this weekend against these two teams, they’re going to stomp all over us.” Photos courtesy of Brian Sevald/Grand Valley Lanthorn 
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