Week 4 Review (Purdue)
The Oakland University Golden Grizzlies season continued this past weekend as the team took their first road-trip of the season to Indianapolis to take on non-conference opponent Purdue. The team looked for continued improvement coming off a weekend series against Wisconsin. The team traveled most of the day Friday to reach Indianapolis and played a two game road series which completed on Saturday night. Coach Stirling and his staff were 2-0-0 going into the weekend all-time against Purdue who finished last season just short of making the National Tournament in the final National’s Rankings. In a new experience for some of the players, the Pop Weaver Youth Pavilion is part of the Indiana State Fairgrounds which provides horse shows and auctions for the local community. This was quite an adventure for the team and provided a new experience all around.
In the first game of the series, the Golden Grizzlies tried to overcome the bus legs while trying to get to their brand of hockey. Early in the first, the Golden Grizzlies found a loose puck at the point and a shot by Max Sharkevich found the back of the net. As the period progressed, the Grizzlies would take that lone tally into the locker room with a 1-0 lead. In the second, the Grizzlies would score two more while giving one up on the power play to the Boilermakers. With one additional tally in the third, the Grizzlies would go on to take the first of the series by a score of 4-1. Scoring in the contest for the Grizzlies were Sharkevich, Jack Abbo, Brian Evans and Danny Fletcher. In goal, Max Pierce made 22 of 23 saves as the Grizzlies outshot Purdue 60-23.
On Saturday, the Golden Grizzlies had the chance to go down to the Indiana War Memorial and NCAA Hall of Fame before the late-night contest at 10:00 PM. The Grizzlies were sluggish out of the gate and started the game down 1-0 after a quick goal by Purdue forward Aiden Owen. The Grizzlies would then rattle off four straight goals in the first period to take a commanding 4-1 lead after the 1st. An additional goal in the second period would be the only action on the scoreboard for the rest of the game and Oakland would win the game by a final score of 5-1. Goals in the contest came from Jules Sainte-Marie, Shane Arbour (x2), Danny Fletcher and Tommy Davis. Caleb Godlewski would pick up his second win of the season as he stopped 28 of 29 in the contest. Oakland would outshoot Purdue 37-29 in the contest to secure the two games series sweep.
Week 5 Preview (Northern Arizona University Lumberjacks 4-0-0-0)
The Golden Grizzlies look to complete the first quarter of the season with this upcoming weekend’s series with Northern Arizona University. NAU is a new opponent to the Golden Grizzlies and are making a trip to play three games over the course of four days in Michigan. The Lumberjacks come to the Michigan to take on Grand Valley on Thursday before taking on Oakland on Saturday and Sunday. Northern Arizona finished last season ranked 29th in the National Tournament rankings with a record of 17-9-1. In the 2024-2025 campaign, the Lumberjacks made notable strides at the DIII level and are looking to continue their push to making a National Tournament.
Looking at NAU: NAU returns roughly half of their roster for the 2025-2026 season. Leading the way last year for NAU were returning defenseman #27 Gerald Smith (12-14-26), forward #24 Casey Otis (10-7-17), and #5 John Sauer (8-8-16). Sauer continues to produce for the Lumberjacks as he had 7 points in the opening weekend while adding more last weekend against Park Gilbert. In goal, returning goaltender #35 Ethan Tighe returns after a 14-game season last year (GP: 14, 9-3-1, GAA: 4.59, SV%: 87.3%). Splitting time so far this season is newcomer #30 AJ Jagles who made a start in the opening weekend as well. Jacob Smets returns to the head coaching role for the Lumberjacks this season.
The team will wait an extra day before taking on the Lumberjacks at Buffalo Wild Wings Arena on Saturday with an opening puck drop of 6:00 PM. On Sunday, the two teams will face off at Birmingham with a 1:00 PM puck drop.
Other News and Notes
The first ranking period of the season will be announced on 10/31 via social media and the ACHA website. The Golden Grizzlies ended last season, ranked 3rd in the country. This will include all games through 10/26/2025. The rankings will continue throughout the season on a bi-weekly basis until the final ranking period in February. The top 16 teams with some automatic bids for league winners will make the tournament which is hosted in St. Louis this season.
Leaders
Leading in Goals: Shane Arbour (6)
Leading in Assists: Tommy Davis (8)
Leading in Points: Shane Arbour (12)
Goaltending GAA Leader: Max Pierce (1.56)
Goaltending Save Percentage Leader: Max Pierce (94.9%)
Team Power Play Percentage: 3 of 23 (13.04%)
Team Penalty Kill Percentage: 13 of 15 (86.67%)
Men’s Division III Out of Town Schedule for Week 4 Relevant Games
NAU vs GVSU (Thursday Only)
Ferris State vs GVSU
Northwood vs Calvin
Missouri State University vs LTU
Colby College vs CMCC
Adrian vs Aquinas
CMU vs WMU
MCHC – East Standings (As of 10/20/2025)
| T1 | Michigan | 3-2-0-0 | 6 |
| T1 | Northwood | 3-1-0-0 | 6 |
| 3 | LTU | 1-1-0-0 | 2 |
| T4 | Oakland | 0-0-0-0 | 0 |
| T4 | Adrian | 0-2-0-0 | 0 |
| T4 | CMU | 0-1-0-0 | 0 |
Please visit our website https://oaklandhockeyd3.acha.hockeytech.com for more information around game times, stats and more.