After a huge blowout victory against Lake Fenton last week, the Oxford Wildcats were brought back down to earth, dropping two more games against Fenton and Sterling Heights.
On Feb. 11, Oxford traveled an hour to the Hartland Ice Arena for a rematch against Fenton, but came out on the losing end, despite scoring the game’s first goal. Oxford’s Sean Degler opened the scoring at 10:35 of the first period with a rebound goal off a shot by JT Anderson. Johnny Thompson got credit for the other assist.
After that, though, the Tigers quickly answered, scoring three goals in the first, and overly winning the game 5-1. On the plus side, the Wildcats did outshoot their opponents for the second straight game, 29-28. Oxford goaltender Kyle Gieger stopped 23 of 28 shots.
On Feb. 13, the Wildcats headed to Troy to face off against Warren-Sterling Heights United. The Wildcats were the decided underdogs once again; however, they held their own, losing only by a score of 5-3. WSH United came out strong in the first period, scoring twice early to bounce out with a 2-0 lead after a flurry of chances in front of the Oxford net.
The Wildcats then responded, scoring two goals in the final three minutes of the period, the first coming from Degler, who extended his goal-scoring streak to four games at 2:25 of the first period. Anderson scored Oxford’s second goal at 0:25 of the period.
For the rest of the game, the Wildcats traded chances with United and played solid at both ends of the ice, but still came up short of the victory. Oxford’s third goal was scored by Josh DeBruyne, with assists from Degler and Mike Jacovetti. Wildcat’s starting goalie Mike Stechschulte stopped 29 shots for Oxford, including a spectacular sliding glove save on the first shot of the game, but it wasn’t enough for the win.
Despite the losses, the Wildcats are set for another challenge when they face off against Lakeville on Feb. 18 at the Polar Palace, and then on Feb. 20 against the Brandon Blackhawks.
Mike Stechschulte is a junior at Oxford High School who plans to major in the field of journalism.