STRONGSVILLE, Ohio - The 14th-seeded Davenport D1 Hockey team begins their National Tournament Friday at 2:30 PM when they take on 19th-seeded Drexel University. Davenport comes into the National Tournament with a 20-20 record while the Dragons of Drexel enter with a 20-13 record. Davenport recieved an at-large bid to the tournament while Drexel recieved an automatic bid by winning the ECHA regular season title. Check out the preview for the game inlcuding links to live stats and live webcast.

Tournament Homepage: CLICK HERE
 
Faceoff: Friday, March. 2^nd, 2:30 PM EST
Location: Strongsville, Ohio
DU Hockey Champs Video: CLICK HERE
 
Live Webcast: FASTHockey - CLICK HERE (MUST CREATE ACCOUNT)
Live Stats: CLICK HERE

First Round Opponent: #19 Drexel University Dragons
 
The Series: First time meeting between two schools
 
Drexel Scouting Report
 
Davenport's first opponent at the National Championships will be the Drexel Dragons. Drexel qualified for nationals after winning the ECHA regular season title. Drexel also wrapped up their season by winning the ECHA league playoffs series with a convincing win over Lebonnon Valley 7-2. 
 
Drexel is led up front by #28, Junior Forward Ross Denczi. Ross has accumulated 46 points in 34 games, with 29 of those points being goals. He is also a force on the power play as he has 12 goals on the extra man advantage. Also having a strong season is his line mate, Kyle Zoldy. Although Zoldy only has seven goals on the season, he has accumulated 33 assists. 
 
Daniel Pyne received most of the starts in net for the Dragons during the season. He started 30 games, going 19-11 during those contests. Of the 1,012 shots he faced this season, he saved 919 of them for a .908 save percentage. His 3.19 goals against average is also impressive. He is an active goalie who has the ability to shut down a team. The Panthers are going to have to take advantage of his rebounds if they are going to beat Pyne and the Dragons.
 
Coaching Scouting Report – Head Coach Phil Sweeney
 
“Drexel is a fast, hard working team. They run a very aggressive forecheck sending two guys to the puck at all times. They are very similar to UM-Dearborn and Eastern Michigan as they will “fly” players to help create offense. They use their team speed to their advantage in all three zones of the ice.”
 
“On the power play Drexel looks for Denczi. They will also look to their points as they shoot a lot of pucks from up top and hope for a rebound. They have scored 45 power play goals on the season, so it will be imperative that we stay out of the box.”
 
“We will have to limit our turnovers especially on their blue line and in our defensive zone. Drexel is very good on the attack, especially off of turnovers.  They are extremely disciplined on their changes so they are always fresh and are always working hard. We will have to play hard for 60 minutes to knock off the ECHA champs.”
 
ACHA National Tournament History for DU – Second year in ACHA Division 1 National Tournament…Won their first ever ACHA D1 tourney in 2010-11 while defeating Rutgers (12-1), Rhode Island (9-1), Ohio (4-2) and #1 seed Lindenwood (3-2 - OT)…Appeared in ACHA Division 2 National Tournament previous seven seasons…Won D2 tournament three consecutive seasons (2009-10, 2008-09, 2007-08)…Runner-up to Michigan State in 2006-07 season, posting 4-5 OT loss to Spartans…2007-08 National Tournament defeated Siena 8-3 in semifinal game and Indiana 5-2 for first D2 National Championship…2008-09 National Tournament defeated semifinal opponent Colorado State 6-2 and Florida Gulf Coast 5-1 for second National Championship…In 2009-10 knocked off Colorado 3-1 in the semifinals and defeated Central Connecticut State 12-4 in the National Championship…Davenport was 24-6 all-time in D2 National Tournament
 
2012 Post-Season Quick Facts – Davenport finished with an overall record of 20-19 in their second season at the ACHA D1 level…DU picked up wins over Liberty,  Adrian, Oakland that are all here at the National Tournament…Davenport has faced nine of the 19 teams in the National Tournament field, going 7-16 against them…Captain Ben Dykstra leads the team in points (39) and assists (25) while also tallying 14 goals…Phil Wendecker is second on the team in points with 38 and leads the team in goals with 20…Davenport has four players who have tallied 30 or more points this season and six different players who have scored double digit goals…Phil Graveline recorded a 17-15 record in net with a 3.36 goal against average… The longest winning streak for DU in 2011-12 was six games from December 3-17…Davenport finished second in the regular season standings in the GLCHL