GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - The season opener for the Davenport men's ACHA Division I hockey team went about as good as planned on Tuesday night with a 3-0 win over Western Michigan. The Panthers welcomed back head coach Phil Sweeney behind the bench after a two-year hiatus and the mojo was there for the team. Neither team could muster a goal in the first period despite 11 shots on net by the Panthers. They did have two power play chances in the opening period and limited Western Michigan to just five shots on goal.

The scoring opened up in the second period at the 4:26 mark as Heath Drye scored his first Panther goal with assists from Peter Stojcevski and Trent Benedict. Drye took a direct pass from Benedict from the right wing to the left side of the net and buried a one-timer past WMU goaltender John Moriarty. The Panthers got another goal at 10:07 of the second period on the power play. Brendan Bauer got credit for the goal as he took the puck at center ice and raced down for a one-on-one against the goaltender with a deke from the backhand to the forehand for the sweet tally and a 2-0 lead.

The third period saw Davenport score their final goal of the night at 13:40 again on the power play. Jonathan Dubbink got the goal from Kristers Klavins and Robert McLaughlin with pinpoint passing. Dubbink got a feed between the circles and sneaked it past Moriarty for the insurance goal. Tempers did flare in the period however as two players from each team were handed 10-minute misconduct penalties at the 13:52 mark. Davenport outshot Western Michigan 39-12 for the game and really put the clamps down in the third period as the visitors had just one shot against Nathan Gauthier.