Men's Ice Hockey (DI) | 11/13/2018 10:02:00 AM

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The D1 Hockey team came off an outstanding pair of weekends on the road, as they took three out of four games against ranked opponents Robert Morris (Ill) and Ohio. DU looked to continue their run against longtime rival Oakland University. Davenport has not lost to the Grizzlies since November 1 of 2014, and has not lost the Good Luck Duck since winning it back in that 2014-2015 season.
 
Friday, November 11
Final Score: Davenport 2 – Oakland 4
Records: #4 DU (11-2-1), OU (7-5-1)
Location: ONYX Ice Arena (Rochester, Mich.)
 
CAUGHT OFF GUARD
The Panthers went over to the East side of the state in hopes of an easy two points, however they were met with a rude awakening, as the Grizzlies came out hungry early in the contest. It started with Luke Novack scoring his first of the season to put Oakland up early. Davenport were unable to solve Josh Pack in the first 20 minutes, and Oakland led by a goal after one period of play.
 
Oakland continued to make life difficult for the Panthers, as they continued to press in the DU end. The Grizzlies attack finally paid off as leading scorer Chase Sereno found a way to beat Davenport's Jason Rhynold, and Oakland found themselves up two early in the second.
 
TRYING TO FIND GROUND
Just 12 seconds after Sereno's goal, the Panthers would finally reach the back of the net, as Keegan Miller scored his 18^th of the season to cut the Oakland lead in half. The two teams would really struggle to find the back of the net for almost the rest of the period, however Keegan Nolan was able to find a way through the Davenport defense, and score with just over a minute remaining in the period, and the Grizzlies led the Panthers by a pair heading into the break.
 
Davenport tried everything they could to create scoring chances in the Oakland end, but Pack continued to turn them away, leading to a 41 save performance. The Panthers were able to get back within one, however, after Austin Thompson tickled the twine for the 12^th time this season, and Davenport was back within striking distance. Head Coach Phil Sweeney pulled the goalie with just minutes remaining, in hopes his troops would get the equalizer, but it was all for naught as Nolan put the puck in the empty net. Oakland upset Davenport for the first time in over four years by a 4-2 score.
 
NOTABLE PERFORMANCES
Miller led the team with a goal and an assist, while Alyx Fonseca helped out with assists on both of DU's goals.
 
Saturday, November 10
Final Score: Davenport 7 – Oakland 3
Records: #4 DU (12-2-1), OU (7-6-1)
Location: Patterson Ice Center (Grand Rapids, MI)
 
LOOKING FOR REVENGE
Davenport was seething after the defeat from the night before, and came out much more focused and inspired in game two of the home-and-home. Davenport carried the puck for the entire first period, outshooting Oakland 15-3 in the first period. Adam Goudelock would open the scoring after waiting the Grizzly defense, and firing a shot over the glove of Pack to give Davenport the lead. Just a few minutes later, Goudelock would get another chance at goal, as his wrister from the point found its way through a calamity of bodies in front of Pack and into the back of the net. Goudelock's second goal of the night gave him three goals so far this season. Davenport would hold the fort for the remainder of the period, and would take a two-goal lead into the first intermission.
 
Oakland would come out with a little more jump in their step in the second period, including outshooting the Panthers in the first five minutes. Davenport's netminder, Tanner Swift, was up to the task turning away any and all Oakland opportunities. Davenport would find themselves with a great opportunity to take over the game while the teams were four aside after a pair of penalties to each side. After Oakland turned the puck over at the DU blue line, Austin Thompson turned and quickly brought the puck back into the Oakland end on a 2-on-1. Thompson fed a great pass over to Walker Aurand who was robbed by Pack, but Miller was following up on the play, and smacked home the rebound to put the Panthers up 3-0. Just over a couple of minutes later, Thompson would find himself at the center of the action. While with the puck on the left wing side in Oakland's zone, Thompson made a fantastic move around an Oakland defender, and slipped one through the wickets of Pack to give Davenport a 4-0 lead after 40 minutes of play.
 
A LITTLE CLOSE FOR COMFORT
The Panthers looked to put the game away early in third period. While on the power play, Fonseca cut through the middle and fired a knuckling shot that fooled Pack, putting DU up by five. Davenport would keep firing everything at the net, and eventually earned a penalty shot after Ian Thompson was taken down on a breakaway. Thompson walked down the right, and quickly snapped a shot passed the blocking glove of Pack, ending his night as Ian Dvorak came in relief in net. With Davenport up 6-0, it looked to be smooth sailing from then on…or so they thought.
 
After a Davenport penalty, Oakland had a chance on the power play, but struggled to get anything going early in the man advantage. However, with just a few seconds left in the power play, Luke Novack fired a shot on goal. Swift made the initial save, but Novack would shove the rebound into the net, putting Oakland on the board. The Panthers would take another penalty on that same play, and just a couple minutes later, it would be Novack again scoring for the Grizzlies to cut Davenport's lead to four. Oakland would not stop there, and while again with a man advantage, it would be Josh Novack who would find a loose puck at the side of the net, and flip it over the shoulder of Swift to make it a three-goal game.
 
Davenport was able to stop the comeback, as Alex Hulford took advantage of a weird bounce in the Oakland and scored his 19^th goal of the season to seal the deal, and the Panthers were able to split the weekend with the Grizzlies after the 7-3 win.
 
NOTABLE PERFORMANCES
Alongside Goudelock's two-goal performance, Austin Thompson picked up a goal and assist on Saturday night. Swift picked up his fifth win of the season in net.
 
Given that the two rivals split this weekend. A third game is to be scheduled to determine who will win the Good Luck Duck. Date, time, and location of the contest are yet to be determined.
 
WHO'S NEXT
A rather shorter week for the Panthers as they get set to take the Knights from Calvin College. In Calvin's second season as a D1 program, they are 2-3-2, and are coming off a weekend split with Toledo. In the four meetings last season, Davenport took all four games, outscoring the Knights 26-5. Puck drop for the first meeting will be Wednesday at Patterson Ice Center at 8:35 p.m., and the second game will take place Friday at Eagles Ice Center at 8 p.m.
 
Story by: Tyler Kuehl
 
Picture credit: Alexis Hoffman