Box Score ROCHESTER, Mich- Davenport lost their conference opener Friday night at the hands of Oakland University. It was a hard fought game that went back and forth until the 3^rd period when Oakland took the lead for good.

Oakland took the first lead of the game scoring less than 4 minutes into play. Davenport was quick to respond, jamming in a loose puck in front of the net to tie the game 1-1.

In the 2^nd period Davenport took their first lead of the game on a goal by Chad Ouellette. Ouellette received a lead pass from Mike Soto at the blue line for a breakaway and slide it past the Oakland goalie. Later in the period with the score tied 2-2, Davenport got a 2 minute 5 on 3 power play.  The Panthers capitalized on the advantage as Sam Waldhart blasted a shot from the blue line past the Oakland goalie for a 3-2 lead. Oakland added a power play goal a few minutes later to tie the game 3-3.

The 3^rd period was one to forget for Davenport as they were outscored 2-0 in the period. The panthers went down 4-3 early in the period. Davenport fought hard to tie the game up, but couldn't stay out of the penalty box. Later in the period Oakland added their 3^rd power play goal of the game to secure the victory.

John Cruse, a transfer from Oakland's D3 team, was in goal for the Panther's. Cruse had a solid game for Davenport, but the traffic in front of the net on the power plays was too much to overcome.

Davenport is now 4-1 on the year. They will resume action Saturday afternoon as they face Oakland at Patterson Ice Arena. The puck is scheduled to drop at 4:30PM.

Post Game Quotes- Head Coach Chris Green

Thoughts on Cruse facing old team-“I thought Cruser played good. He made the saves he was supposed to make. It was just the traffic and deflections on the power plays that gave him trouble. If we could have stayed out of the penalty box we could have won that game.”

Post Game Notes

Davenport is now has a 6-4 all time record against Oakland.