The Davenport men's ACHA Division I hockey team had an early-season litmus test about where their program is related to another program in No. 7 Purdue Northwest. It was the highest-ranked team to date on the calendar for the Panthers who earned a split of games against the Pride. The Panthers were shutout for the first time this season on Thursday (3-0) in Hammond, Indiana before returning home on Saturday for a 3-1 victory.
 
The contests were part of the Great Lakes Six Conference slate where the Panthers now have a 2-2 record. The Pride clamped down on defense in the first game on Thursday as goaltender Cooper Olson stopped all 35 shots by the Panthers. The volume of shots showed that DU could put pressure on the Pride defense, but Olson was a wall in net. Nathan Gauthier was able to stop 38 shots by Purdue Northwest in a good effort.
 
After a scoreless first period, Mason Cole scored his fourth goal of the season at 19:24 to finally put a score on the board. Easton Tok and Hayden Masloski were given assists on the Cole goal. Carter Hobbs made it 2-0 at 1:04 early in the third period on the power play for his third goal of the season. Tok assisted again while Bryce Jacobsen had the other assist. Mike Clough ended the scoring at 17:03 for his first tally of the season from Jacobsen. The Pride took just one penalty, while the Pride went 1-for-3 on the power play.
 
After a day off, the teams returned to the ice on Saturday at Patterson Ice Center. Once again, the first period yielded no scoring. However, the Panthers were able to strike first in this one as Robert McLaughlin notched his second goal of the season at 6:50 from Kristers Klavins and Ryan Blackburn. Masloski answered for PNW just 1:05 later with his first goal of the season from Cole.
 
Branwen Pollett would score the game-winning goal for Davenport at 11:40 of the second period on the power play from Peter Stojcevski and Trent Benedict. Tyler Kaminski scored the only third period goal at 12:32. His second of the year came from Justin Turner and Liam Bland. The penalty kill for Davenport went 7-for-7 and Kyler Lowden was able to stop 31 shots in goal for the Panthers.

The next action for the Panthers (7-5) will be a pair of home games starting on Friday, October 25 at 8:35 PM against No. 16 Pittsburgh.