Oct. 3, 2008

Box Score

Grand Rapids, Mich. - On a night in which the 2007-2008 Championship team was honored, the current Panthers team jumped out quick and cruised to a 6-4 win over rival Grand Valley State. The win is the third straight to open the season as DU will now travel to Hudsonville tomorrow to take on the Lakers at their rink.

Davenport's annual homecoming game featured an added taste tonight as the 2007-2008 ACHA D-II National Champions were honored before the game with the raising of the banner as well as players receiving their rings. Head Coach Paul Lowden and CFO Mike Volk got to present each player and coach with their ring commemorating the championship year from last season.

Once the play began though, it was all business and the Lakers from GVSU jumped out to a quick 1-0 just 4:29 into the game. Davenport came right back less than a minute later when Ben Dykstra scored on a pass from Bobby Collar. The tie was short-lived though as GVSU struck again at the 8:00 mark on their second power play goal of the period. Determined to not let their rival ruin their special night, the Panthers then played a flawless period for the last twelve minutes and added three goals (Jonah Rogowski, Bobby Collar and Adam Thomas) to take a 4-2 lead into the 1st Intermission.

With the crowd pumped up coming out for the second 20 minutes, the Panthers used their energy and added a fifth goal (fourth unanswerd) by Dan Reaume on a beautiful pass from Collar to make the score 5-2. After the first period was marred by penalties, DU continued to see players go into the box but so did the Lakers as there was no real rythym to the game for the first 40 minutes and DU took a 3-goal lead into the final break.

Standing just 20 minutes away from their first victory over their rival this season, the Panthers played a safe third period but the Lakers scored two late goals at 13:54 and 19:26 to make the final 30 seconds more interesting than it had to be. DU responded though as Bobby Collar took a loose puck and put it in the empty net to seal the 6-4 win.

Collar finished the night with 2 goals and 2 assists and Ben Dykstra added a goal and assist each as did Adam Thomas.

DU improves to 3-0-0 on the year as they will now travel across town on Saturday night for a second matchup with the Lakers at 8:00 at Georgetown Ice Center. The ACHA D3 team will also be playing at the same arena but in the other rink at the same time.