Box Score Photo Gallery | Sweeney Audio Interview 

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Davenport advanced to their first ever GLCHL Tournament championship game thanks to a 5-2 win over rival Oakland on Saturday night. The Panthers scored five goals in the second period and cruised to their 28^th win of the season which advances them to Sunday's 4:30pm final against the top seeded and No. 1 nationally ranked Adrian Bulldogs. Adrian will be looking for their second straight tourney crown after defeating Oakland in last year's title game.

The opening period between the two rivals was un-eventful other than three power play opportunities with the Panthers going 0-2 and the Grizzlies 0-1. Oakland had an extra man advantage for the last 45 seconds of the first and created a few good chances and their power play continued into the second.

Starting a man down for the first 1:15 of the second, the Panthers killed it off and got on the scoreboard just 30 seconds later when Cody Walsh found Tyler Quigley in front and he put it by the netminder to put DU up 1-0. The offense continued to come throughout the second as DU put up three more in the period as Matt Ogden (8:49), Robert Kleiman (11:01 – 4v4) and Luke McCarthy (12:05 – pp) all helped the Panthers build a 4-0 lead.

Oakland finally got on the scoreboard with 4:50 remaining in the period but Davenport ended the twenty minutes with an answer with just seven seconds remaining when Andrew Frank scored from Quigley and Wendecker.

The first 10:00 of the third period was back and forth with neither team showing much on their offensive side, but a penalty cost the Panthers with 9:15 remaining as OU cut the margin to three goals. Less than a minute later, the Grizzlies went on another power play but DU netminder Phil Graveline came up with some huge saves to preserve the 5-2 lead and eventually the win.

The win lifts Davenport to 28-9-0-1 on the season as they will meet Adrian (30-3-1) in the title game at 4:30pm on Sunday afternoon. DU split the season series with the Bulldogs.

Post-Game Notes

Davenport now holds a 22-16-1 advantage in the all-time series with their rivals Oakland…DU has won three of the five meetings so far this season but this game had no implications in the “Good Luck Duck Series” as DU will host Oakland next Friday at 8:30pm with the winner claiming the Duck