Men's Ice Hockey (DI) | 10/15/2014 10:45:00 AM

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Davenport D1 hockey team will return to the ice after have last weekend off and they will have a long road trip out to Lynchburg, Va. to face rival Liberty in the first two games of the Blue-Gray Cup. Davenport will look to regain the cup after losing it in the first two games last season. Davenport will also conclude a four game road swing this weekend against the Flames. The series starts on Friday night at 7 p.m. in Lynchburg, Va. 
 
Weekend Series
At No. 8 Liberty
Dates: Friday and Saturday, October 17-18, 2014
Puck Drop: 7 p.m./7 p.m.
Location: Lynchburg, Va. (LaHaye Ice Center)
Live Coverage: Live Video
 
Scouting Liberty
 
The Flames enter the weekend with a 7-1-0-3 record on the season and are currently on a three game losing streak after losing back-to-back shootout games against Arizona and Minot State. Liberty suffered their first regulation loss of the season against Minot State to conclude their weekend series with the Beavers. Freshman Luke Hannon leads the way for the team offensively as he has tallied 19 points on the season, which is tied for fourth in the ACHA.
 
In net, Matt Pinel and Joshua Halpenny have split time in net this season with Halpenny recording a .80 goals against average and has a .964 save percentage. Pinel has a 2.78 goals against average and a .906 save percentage.
 
Blue-Gray Cup Series
 
The Blue-Gray Cup is entering its third season with each team winning the cup once in the first two seasons of the cup. In the first season of the cup, Davenport was able to win the cup in the first two games of the series after sweeping Liberty on the road and clinched the cup with a shootout victory. Last season, the Flames were able to turn the tables on the Panthers and swept DU at the LaHaye Ice Center. Davenport fell behind early in both games and battled back, but Liberty was able hold off Davenport to complete the sweep and win the cup for their first time.
 
The Panthers
 
Through four games so far this season, Davenport is 2-1-0-1 on the season. Luke McCarthy is leading the way for the Panther offense tallying six goals and two assists thus far. McCarthy had a big weekend against John Carroll scoring five goals and chipped in with one assist. Jordan Simmonds also had a big weekend their last time out after he scored three goals and had two assists.
 
In goal, Matt Kaludis has played three of the first four games for DU and has a .977 save percentage and a 2.59 goals against average. In Clayton Brown's only appearance of the season against John Carroll, he was able to turn away all 23 shots he faced to record his first shutout in a Panther uniform.
 
GLCHL Outlook
 
In the GLCHL, Adrian is still out front leading the way with a perfect 6-0-0-0 conference record. Western Michigan stumbled this past weekend after being swept at home by Kent State in a shootout loss and overtime loss. Michigan-Dearborn has 1-3-1-1 record in conference after being swept by Adrian this past weekend. Oakland has only suffered one conference loss at the hands of Eastern Michigan, which is the Eagles only win in conference thus far. Through two conference games Davenport is still in search of their first conference win.
 
ACHA Rankings
 
In the ACHA rankings that were released last Friday, there was a little more movement than the previous rankings with Central Oklahoma jumping up to fifth and Rhode Island is now sitting at 12th. Davenport stayed at 16th in the rankings after sweeping John Carroll on the road. Arizona State and Robert Morris (Ill.) still held the top two spots, but with the past weekend seeing many ranked teams going head-to-head there maybe some more movement in the rankings released this Friday.
 
DI Ice Hockey Contact: David Gerhart | 616-554-5045 | dgerhart@davenport.edu
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