Davenport Athletic Network
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – After playing Western Michigan this past weekend and winning both games the D1 hockey team upped their win streak to seven games and have won all six games in the 2014 part of their season thus far. The Panthers are now in the final stretch of games with just eight more regular season games to go. The tough stretch starts this weekend when Davenport faces No. 13 Lindenwood, who knocked DU out of the National Tournament last season. The Panthers and Lions will play two games starting on Friday at 8:30 p.m., followed by a 5:30 p.m. start on Saturday with both games at home.
Date: January 24-25, 2014
Location: Patterson Ice Center
Broadcast Coverage: Davenport Athletic Network
Broadcast Talent: Thomas Biondo
Twitter: @DU_D1Hockey | @DUAthletics
SCOUTING LINDENWOOD:
Head coach, Rick Zombo will lead the Lindenwood Lions into this weekend's match-up with a 10-13-0-2 record. The Lions have turned around their play in the second half of the season winning their last four games and moving up to 13th in the latest national rankings. Daniel Rosse is leading the way for the Lions with 15 goals and 26 points on the season. Junior Peppi Sipila is leading the team in assists with 15 and is just behind Rosse in points with 25 thus far in the year.
In net, Zombo has had four different net minders make an appearance. Carrying the workload and appearing in 12 games to post a 2-8-1 record is Linus Ahgren. Ahgren has a 3.43 goals against average to go along with a .88 save percentage. As of late Cody Karpinski has been getting the majority of the starts as he played in the last four games for a 4-0 record, 1.25 goals against average and .95 goals against average.
LAST MEETING:
The last meeting between the Davenport and Lindenwood came in the second round of the last seasons ACHA D1 National Tournament in Chicago, Ill. The Lions jumped out to an early lead scoring halfway through the first period and never looked back. Lindenwood led 4-0 after two periods, and DU came out in the final period looking to make a comeback and cut the lead in half with about three minutes remaining, before Lindenwood added another goal with 1:33 left to seal the game.
In the game, DU was able to pepper Linus Ahgren with shots the entire game as the Panther put 41 shots on net, but were only able to find the back of the net twice. Lindenwood only had 27 shots, but they had high quality chances throughout the game. Travis White and Phil Wendecker scored for the Panthers, while Phil Graveline made 22 saves in net for Davenport.
WEEKEND RECAP:
DU faced GLCHL foe Western Michigan in two games last weekend. In the first game of the home-and-home series in Kalamazoo, Mich. the Stallions jumped up to an early 2-0 nothing lead, but the Panthers scored goals late in the first period to take the lead. Heading into the third period the Panthers had a 4-3 lead and Davenport was able to put the game out of reach as they added two goals in the period to win 6-3.
The second game of the weekend at Patterson Ice Center started the same way with Western Michigan scoring early in the game to take the early lead. DU came back the same way on Saturday and doubled up the Stallions score after the first period. This time Davenport ran away with game scoring three more goals in the final two periods to complete the season sweep of Western Michigan with the 5-1 victory.
THE PANTHERS:
Davenport has been on a hot streak winning seven straight games and their first six games of 2014. Leading the charge for the Panthers has been Andrew Frank who is currently on a 13 game point streak. During his streak, Frank has tallied more than one point on in seven of those games as he leads the team with 33 points and 22 assists. Mason Bohlinger leads the team with 17 goals and is the only other Panther with at least 30 points on the season. Phil Wendecker, Luke McCarthy and Robert Kleiman are all knocking on the door of that 30 point threshold as all three have 28 points.
On the back end DU has been strong defensively play from their blue liners, and senior Bo Jacobs is leading the way for the defensive core. Goaltending has been strong for the Panthers all season as Phil Graveline and Matt Kaludis have been leading the way for the team. Graveline has an 11-7 record on the season to along with a .91 save percentage and 2.80 goals against average. Kaludis has and 8-2 record, 1.91 goals against average and .926 save percentage.
GLCHL OUTLOOK:
Adrian still holds the top spot in the GLCHL with 48 points, but the Panthers have closed the gap to just six points as DU now has 42 points in conference play. Oakland still sits three points behind Davenport with 39 points, as Western Michigan is in the fourth spot with 19 points. Eastern Michigan is in fifth with 18 points, followed by Michigan-Dearborn in sixth place and Kent State rounds out the conference with six points for the season.
ACHA RANKINGS:
Preseason Ranking (9/20) 10th
Week 1 (9/27) 11th
Week 2 (10/4) 12th
Week 3 (10/11) 12th
Week 4 (10/18) 12th
Week 5 (10/24) 14th
Week 6 (10/29) 14th
Week 7 (11/5) 15th
Week 8 (11/13) 15th
Week 9 (11/20) 18th
Week 10 (11/27) 16th
Week 11 (12/5) 12th
Week 12 (12/11) 13th
Week 13 (12/17) 13th
Week 14 (1/8) 13th
Week 15 (1/15) 12th
Week 16 (1/22) 12th
DI Ice Hockey Contact: David Gerhart | 616-554-5045 | dgerhart@davenport.edu
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