by Zein Jivani / The Daily

While the Sooner Hockey Club tried to finish off Arizona State on Saturday, defenseman Matt Pangrac wasn’t on the ice. He wasn’t even in the same state.

Instead, Pangrac was bass fishing on the Arkansas River in the Under Armour College Bass National Championship, hosted in Little Rock, Ark.

Pangrac and teammate Chip Porché captured third place out of 35 competing universities, losing a tiebreaker to Louisiana-Lafayette on the final day. The pair was one of five teams to qualify for the final round and entered the round in second place.

Pangrac, who has been fishing since he was two, appreciated the opportunity to compete in the prestigious tournament during the meat of the hockey season.

“This was really nice of the coaches to let me do this because I understand how important the team is, but they know I want to make a career out of this [working for a fishing Web site],” the senior defenseman said.

He did not, however, completely miss the game.

“I listened to the game on the [Wire] Web site and also got updates from some of the guys that were injured,” Pangrac said. “You are with these guys every day, so it sucks when you have to miss a game.”

Besides bringing back a third place finish, Pangrac also has plenty of fish tales to pass along to his teammates.

He can share how he wrecked his boat the day before the tournament started and fished out of a bait boat for the weekend.

He can explain how some fisherman stole their successful spot on the final day and refused to give it up to a pair of college students fishing for scholarships.

Even though the Sooners survived the weekend without Pangrac, sweeping Arizona State 5-2 and 6-2, respectively, some players say the locker just wasn’t the same.

“We call him Pangerism because he’s got one liners he’ll just throw out at will,” sophomore goalie Chad Helgason said. “He always lightens up the locker room; the best of times, the worst of times you can always get a laugh out of him.”

The No. 7 Sooners will have Pangrac back this weekend as they play their first ever three game homestand, which started last night against Division I newcomer Adrian College.

The Sooners finish off their stay at the Blazers’ Ice Center with a pair of matchups against Missouri.