Oct. 30, 2009
Box Score
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - After scoring 11 goals against Ferris State on Thursday night, DU found the scoring hard to come by against Michigan State as the Spartans escaped Patterson Ice Center with a 3-2 victory. The loss, DU's first against a D2 opponent since January 10th last season, drops them to 9-4 on the year and 1-1 in league action.
Michigan State, which came into the game leading the GMHL standings with 4 points, was the last D2 team to defeat the Panthers and Friday night, their defense and goaltending came up huge.
After a scoreless first period that saw DU outshoot MSU by a slim 11-10 margin, the Panthers got on the scoreboard first in the 2nd period on a goal from Ben Dykstra (Kentwood, Mich.) which was assisted by Chad Rutzel (Howell, Mich.) and Jeremy Barber (Caledonia, Mich.).
Less than two minutes later, Michigan State responded with a power play goal with just less than 20 seconds remaining on the extra man advantage to tie the game and the teams headed into the final intermission knotted at 1-1.
As things started to get chippy between the two squads, each net-minder came up with some big saves but none bigger than a 3-minute stretch for the MSU goalie that saw him and his team fight off two straight power plays including a 5 on 3.
As the play went back to a 5 on 4 for DU, the Spartans caught a break and broke open the 1-1 game with a goal with only 5:03 remaining.
Trailing by one with just under a minute to play, Head Coach Paul Lowden pulled goalie Scott Knight (Grand Rapids, Mich.) but DU allowed a cheap empty netter to make the score 3-1 in favor of MSU.
Davenport did not stop fighting as they got to within one again when Marc Thompson (Traverse City, Mich.) scored with only 11.7 seconds remaining but it was not enough as State cleared the puck off the faceoff to escape with the 3-2 win.
The loss is the first at home for Davenport since December 6 of 2008 and is only their 4th in GMHL play over the last three seasons after going 10-1-3 in 2007-08 and 12-2 in 2008-09.
Davenport will return to the ice in Albany, N.Y. next week when they take on William Paterson, Siena College ad Florida Gulf Coast in the Siena College Showcase from November 6-8.
