WXOU Sports: Oakland University

                                                                     Backup Goalie Position Up For Grabs
By: Corey Hagood

      With the first of three summer camps set to get underway this weekend at the ONYX Ice
Arena, the Grizzlies have two spots open in goal. It is very unlikely that someone will come in and
unseat Collin Chase, who is expected to once again to be the Grizzlies starting goaltender.

       The goal for all the returning players is to show the new tryouts the level that need to be at to
become a Grizzly and be the best players on the ice. Coming off of the first round loss at
Nationals to Oklahoma this is the first camp that this coaching staff has come into not winning the
National Championship.

      However, for the past several seasons the main backup to Chase has been Andrew Hansen,
who departs the club after his senior season. Hansen was everything you could expect in a
backup and more as you always felt you had as good a chance to win a game with either Chase or
Hansen in net.

      Filling the void of Hansen is one of several holes the Grizzlies will get a firsthand look at this
weekend. The first possibility to fill that void will be last season’s third goalie Andrew Stewart. In
his first season of ACHA DI play Stewart would be the first one to hold himself accountable when
he struggled in a game.

      His first season can be described as average it wasn’t great and it wasn’t bad either. The
expectation of a backup goalie at OU has been increased with the solid play of Hansen and for
Stewart and the other tryouts for the DI goalie spot they have to understand that fact but at the
same time understand that they have to make a name for themselves and have us talking about
how they have elevated the backup spot yet another level.

      We know that after every season the coaching staff tells us that no one has a guaranteed spot
on the roster. It is very possible that throughout the course of the camps we discover two goalies
better than Stewart, which is why Stewart must show the Grizzlies coaching staff that he has
stepped up his game and is at least the second best goalie in the camp behind Chase.

      Stewart earned his way onto the DI club last season by proving in the offseason camps he
was one of the three best goalies to tryout and the organization was familiar with him from his
solid work at the ACHA DIII level. Now Stewart has to prove he has been working hard this
offseason and that he is better than the other goalies in camp that will be playing hard for the
spot. He will also have to elevate his game as the competition in camp is expected to be the best
yet at Oakland.

      There is no doubt that with a season of seeing how things are done at the DI level under Head
Coach Sean Hogan and his coaching staff that Stewie will be prepared, improved and ready to
grab his spot as the teams number two goalie.