Women's Ice Hockey | 1/14/2019 2:02:00 PM

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – After a lopsided victory Friday night over Concordia Ann-Arbor, the Women's Hockey Team took on another team from the East side of the state, the University of Michigan. The Panthers looked to carry their momentum from back-to-back home wins against a team that only had defeated once, and that was back in 2015. DU was looking to see if there was any rust on the Wolverines, as they had not played since December 2.
 
Saturday, January 12
Final Score: Davenport 1 – Michigan 3
Records: #15 DU (4-14), #11 UM (4-6)
 
CONTROLLING THE GAME
Davenport's offense was alive and well early in the contest Saturday afternoon. They peppered Michigan's Bailey Hamill with 10 shots in the first half of the opening frame. Their persistence would pay off, as Courtney Mulligan, who was flying all game for the Panthers, made a nice move to the front of the net, was stopped by Hamill, but the rebound bounced over to Jaiden Forrest, and Forrest put the puck into the back of the net. Her 12^th goal of the season gave the Panthers the 1-0 lead.
 
BACK THE OTHER WAY
Following DU's goal, the Wolverines began to pick up their offensive attack. It looked like they were close to tying the game with just over five minutes to go, but thanks to Julia Gaynor and the rest of the Davenport defense, the Panthers still held onto the one-goal lead. However, it was not long after that another battle right on top of the Panther crease saw Gaynor make one, two, three saves, but on the fourth shot from Mackenzie Hewitt, the puck slowly slid across the line, and the game was tied at one.
 
NOT THE MOST SPECIAL
Davenport looked to regain the momentum in the second period, and they had glorious chances with three consecutive power plays. On the first man advantage, DU's first unit created a couple of chances. Including a hard one-timer from Mulligan that was tipped on goal by Tori Dubuc, but Hamill was able to stretch her leg and glove out to make the save. The following two power plays saw DU struggle to garner any more chances, as Michigan's penalty kill thwarted any Panther rush.
 
A TOUGH CALL, THEN A CLOSE CALL
Late in the second, after a long shift for the Panthers, Mulligan rushed the puck into the Michigan zone. As she crossed the blueline, some of her teammates went off for a change. Mulligan then lost the puck right in front of the Davenport bench, and then one of the oncoming Panthers touched the puck, but before the rest of her teammates were able to get to the bench, giving the Panthers a bench minor with under 30 seconds to play in the period. Moments later, it looked like Amanda Ballestero knocked the puck out of the zone, but Lia Harrington barely held the line, and the Wolverines went on the attack. MaryCalire Shorkey threw the puck in front of the net, and Michigan's leading scorer Taylor Lundberg was able to sneak one passed Gaynor with 1.3 seconds on the clock.
 
SO CLOSE, BUT SO FAR
Now down a goal in the third, Davenport was looking to find some way to take back the momentum. Despite a couple of early chances, the Panthers couldn't make any more marks on the scoreboard. Just passed the five-minute mark of the period, the Panthers iced the puck with an already tired group on the ice. With the inability to change, all DU wanted to do was clear the puck out of the zone. However, despite multiple clearing attempts, Michigan refused to leave the Panther zone. Almost two minutes after the icing, the puck bounced out to Harrington, who walked into the slot, and beat Gaynor glove side high to give the Wolverines a two-goal lead before the halfway mark of the third.
 
Davenport fired everything they had at the net in the closing minutes of the contest, but thanks to some good goaltending from Hamill and the rest of her defense, the Panthers were unable to tickle the twine, and the Wolverines would skate away with the 3-1 victory.
 
Sunday, January 13
Final Score: Davenport 0 – Michigan 4
Records: #15 DU (4-15), #11 UM (5-6)
 
AS TIGHT AS IT GETS
The Panthers came out flying in the first period. They threw anything and everything at the Wolverines net, outshooting Michigan by a 13-4 margin in the first 20 minutes. However, Hamill made a flurry of big saves, and the game would be scoreless after one.
 
The second period saw Michigan take control and were inspired to take the lead on home ice. It was the Wolverines leading scorer, Lundberg again cashing in with her ninth goal of the season to break the ice. After that, the defense for both teams held their ground, and the game went into the third period with the Wolverines up by one.
 
SLIPPERY SLOPE
The third period was rough for the Panthers. Despite wanting to tie the game, and hopefully split the weekend series, it was Michigan who was able to capitalize on the scoring chances. Emily McCann scored her first goal of the season, as she was able to put a shot passed Gaynor just under four minutes into the period. Just a few minutes later Mackenzie Hewitt scored her second goal of the weekend to put the Wolverines up by three. Morgan Baird capped of the scoring with her second of the season, and the Wolverines would take the weekend series by a final score of 4-0.
 
Despite the team's second defeat of the weekend, Head Coach Jerre Coretti liked his team's fighting spirit throughout Sunday's contest.
 
"We played our hearts out. Played three good periods of hockey for the third game in a row, even though we were down to five forwards for most of the game."
 
WHO'S NEXT?
The Panthers will have another three-game weekend next week, starting off with a pair of games against crosstown rival Grand Valley State. The #8 Lakers head into the weekend with a 9-8 record, and are coming off a sweep of #14 Robert Morris (Ill.). DU is 1-7-1 all-time against Grand Valley, their lone victory coming back on February 7 of 2016. Friday night's game will take place at Griff's Georgetown Ice Center in Hudsonville, with puck drop set for 7:30 p.m. Saturday's game will be back at Patterson, with a 10:30 p.m. faceoff.
 
Story by: Tyler Kuehl
 
Picture credit: Alexis Hoffman