GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - An early goal by Oakland put Davenport down, but the #2 ranked Panthers recovered in a big way as they cruised to a 6-1 victory on Saturday night at Patterson Ice Center. Jonathon Juliano posted two goals and
Bobby Collar tied former DU captain Marc Lira on the all-time assists mark in the win.
With their backs against the wall heading into the second game of the season series with their arch-rival Oakland, DU came out a little slow in the first few minutes and allowed the Grizzlies to go ahead on a fluke shot from center ice. The goal came at the 12:53 mark of the first period.
DU responded in a big way late as they poured in three goals in the final 3:52 with the first two coming only 1:18 apart.
Brit Ouellette (Windsor, Ontario) got it started with a power play goal with 3:52 to play on assists from
Jeff Slusser (Kentwood, Mich.) and
Ben Dykstra (Kentwood, Mich.).
Just 1:18 later,
Adam Kuhn (Southgate, Mich.) put the Panthers up 2-1 with assists going to
Bobby Collar (Brighton, Mich.) and
Brandon Davis (Hartland, Mich.). The final goal of the first came with just 2.5 seconds to play as
Jonathon Juliano (Clinton Twp, Mich.) took a nice feed from
Matt Morang (Dearborn, Mich.) and Kuhn to give DU the 3-1 lead.
As the second period resumed, the play on the ice continued to get dirty between both teams but Davenport was not phased even with some questionable calls going against them. The Panthers posted three more goals in the second period to give them a commanding 6-1 lead headed into the final intermission.
Kyle McDowell (Toronto, Ontario) scored the first and then DU hockey history was made on the second when Juliano converted his second of the night. Assisting on the play was 5th year senior
Bobby Collar (Brighton, Mich.) and the tally tied him on the all-time assists mark with former DU captain Marc Lira. Bobby now has 195 assists during his 4 plus years as a Panthers and sits just a few points away from tying
Adam Thomas (Kentwood, Mich.) on the all-time points list.
Collar then scored the final goal of the night giving him three points on the night. Also finishing with three were Juliano and Kuhn.
Joe D'Elia (Toronto, Ontario) picked up the win in net as the freshman goaltender improves to 8-4 on the year.
Davenport (22-5, 9-2 GLCHL) is now off for the holidays and will return to the ice on January 7 for a three game series with Western Michigan.
