PHOENIX, Ariz. - The Davenport ACHA Division I Men's Hockey team kicked off their 2022-23 season in the Valley of the Sun on Wednesday night in an after-dark affair against Grand Canyon. The unranked Lopes pulled out the 6-3 win over the 18th-ranked Panthers.

Noah Bradburn tallied the first goal of the season for Davenport on the power play at the 5:02 mark of the first period. Joshua Uzzell was credited with an assist on the Bradburn goal. The Lopes responded with two goals in the first and one more in the second period for a 3-1 lead. All three goals came at even strength and were scored by Triston Tabucol, Anthony Petrotto, and Kolby Donovan. 

Davenport got to within a goal at 12:40 of the second period as Kristers Klavins scored DU's second power play goal with an assist from Robert McLaughlin. GCU scored just 30 seconds later to kill any momentum and take a 4-2 lead into the final period.

Klavins got his second goal of the night again on the power play at 11:08 to make it 4-3. Sebastien Doucet and Brendan Bauer each had an assist on the Klavins goal. The Lopes put it away from there scoring at 15:52 (Kory Potach) on a short-handed goal and again at 17:29 on a short-handed, empty-net goal by Tabucol.

Nathan Gauthier stopped 30 of 35 shots on the night for the Panthers. Riley Morgan stopped 27 of 30 shots for the Lopes. DU will stay in Arizona over the weekend and play a two-game set against the Arizona Wildcats on Friday and Saturday. Both games will start at 9:30 PM ET.