By Mike Stechschulte
Assignment Writer

It has been a long week for the Oxford Wildcats hockey team.
In a recent stretch of games, which had the Wildcats playing 3 times in a span of 4 days, Oxford came out with two wins and one loss.
On Wednesday, Oxford matched up against the Fenton Tigers and came out on top 3-1. The game featured very tight checking and defense since neither team was able to produce much offense throughout the game. Fenton won the Flint-Metro league title last year, but was unable to beat Oxford in two matchups this season.
Oxford goaltender Marty Maier played possibly his best game of the season stopping 26 of 27 shots.
The 3-0 defeat on Friday against the Brandon Blackhawks was devastating to the team, which is trying desperately to catch first place Linden for the league title. It was the Wildcat’s second loss to Brandon this season.
However, the Wildcats came back on Saturday with a 6-1 victory against the Lake Orion Dragons.
Brandon Stevens scored two goals and had one assist, and Rob Sczcepankowski scored the hat trick to help beat the Dragons. Szczepankowski’s second goal appeared to be deflected into the net by a Lake Orion defenseman, but he got credit for it anyway.
“I have no idea how the second goal went in,” said Rob, “I just looked at the ref and he pointed to me, and I thought I drew a penalty. I didn’t realize the puck was in the net.”
Szczepankowski, who leads by far in penalty minutes, stayed out of the box the entire game for Oxford. However, this was not the case for Oxford defenseman Glen Gagnon. With only 6 second left in the game, Gagnon was called for goaltender interference. As a result, he also faces a possible suspension.
The Dragon’s backup goalie finished the final six seconds of the game and Oxford got the bittersweet victory.
Mike Stechschulte is a sophomore at Oxford High School and backup goalie for the Wildcat’s hockey team.