Feb. 19, 2008

Oklahoma City, Okla. - After defeating the Sooners on their home ice the night before the Panther's knew they would be in for a much tougher battle as Oklahoma was celebrating senior night. It would be a game in which both offenses exploded as the Sooners came back strong in the third period to earn the 8-7 victory.

Davenport jumped out to a two goal lead again with goals from Adam Thomas and Dayne Gluting. Eric Troup assisted on the first and Bill McSween notched an assist on the second goal. The Sooners cut the lead in half by the end of the first period. The Panthers scored three in the second period with two of them coming from Adam Thomas to get the hat trick and the other from Dayne Gluting. The Sooners kept it close scoring two as well to cut the lead to 5-3 at the end of the second. The first half of the third period was all Sooners as the Panthers seemed to sit on their heels. The Sooners scored four goals to take the lead 7-5 and after a long delay due to a scuffle and Panther starting goalie Eddie Wheeler ejected, Chris Joswiak stepped in to replace him.

The Davenport University coaching staff pulled the goalie with over 3 minutes to go to try to spark the Panthers. The Sooners scored to make it 8-5. The Panthers pulled their goalie again with 1 1/2 minutes remaining and Adam Thomas responded with his fourth goal of the game to cut the lead to two. With just over a minute to play, the Panthers continued to press finally scoring with only 9 seconds remaining on a goal from Brit Oullette to cut the lead to 8-7.

The game ended with an 8-7 loss for the Panthers. "We worked too hard to let down for 10 minutes in the third period and give the Sooners the victory, stated Head Coach Paul Lowden. I appreciate our team's effort to battle back but you can't sit on your heels against teams of their caliber. They will make you pay."

The disappointing loss was the fourth of the second half (all ACHA DI Teams). The Panthers second semester record sits at 11-4-1 and an overall record of 26-9-3.

The Panthers however still earned the #1 Ranking in the Central Region which gives them an automatic bid to the National Tournament and also allows them to avoid the Regional Tournament. Even though they will not be playing in the regional tournament, DU will still be on the ice. The Davenport University