Jan. 16, 2009

Box Score

Lynchburg, Va. - Coming off a tough loss to GMHL foe Michigan State, the Panthers had to rebound quickly as they made the 12 hour road trip to Liberty University to take on the ACHA D1 Flames. DU played a solid all-around game and came away with an impressive 4-3 victory.

The first period started off exciting with back and forth hockey and some bone crushing hits. Eddie Wheeler came up with a big save which helped the momentum swing in favor for the Panthers as the first period ended in a 0-0 tie.

Just three minutes into the second, a hard working play by Britt Ouellette set up Rick Gadwa with a snipe for the first goal of the game. Just ten minutes later Adam Thomas scored on a shorthanded breakaway top shelf on the flames goalie. Less than a minute later the Flames came back with a power play goal which made the score 2-1 Davenport going into the locker-room after two periods of play.

Both teams came out hard for the third and a mixture of mucking it up and goals made it an excited period for the 2000 fans in attendance. A great feed from Kevin Doyle right out of the penalty box set Eric Troup up for a goal that put the Panthers up by two. Just three minutes later, Liberty scored back to back goals to tie the game up with just seven minutes left in the game, but Davenport came back strong as a streaking Bobby Collar roofed the puck high glove side which sealed up the game with just over five minutes left for the Panthers.

The Panthers defense shut the flames down the rest of the way and gave Davenport the victory, which raised their record to 26-3.

The Panthers look to sweep the road series against Liberty tonight with the drop at 7:30 PM.