By: Ryan Thompson, Assistant AD for Communications
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - The men's ACHA Division I hockey team avenged an earlier season loss back on Nov. 8 at Roosevelt with a weekend sweep of the Lakers by scores of 4-3 (OT) on Friday and 5-1 on Saturday. Friday's contest was on the road in the Windy City at the Edge Ice Arena and the Panthers needed extra time to secure the victory. The shots were 33-30 in favor of the Panthers including 8-3 in overtime. The game was a tale of scoring outbursts as the Panthers scored the first three goals and then the Lakers respond with three of their own to send the game into overtime.
Brendan Bauer,
Trent Benedict, and
Robert McLaughlin gave Davenport a 3-0 lead at the 5:40 mark of the third period. Roosevelt chipped away as they scored their three goals in a span of 11-plus minutes. The tying goal came at 17:12 on the power play from Tanner Hallett, his fifth goal of the season. Benedict played the hero in overtime scoring at 4:28 for his ninth goal of the season from Bauer and
Branwen Pollett.
Nathan Gauthier made 27 saves in the win for the Panthers.
The Panthers honored their seniors on Saturday night and they left the ice one last time at Patterson Ice Center with a convincing victory.
Kristers Klavins made sure to get the Panthers ahead early with back-to-back goals in the first period.
Jonathan Dubbink assisted on the first goal just 30 seconds into the game and the other came at 7:50 unassisted. Benedict reached double figures in season goals at 1:28 of the second period from
Dylan Jouppi and
Austin Melone. The Panthers did not let the Lakers back into this one learning their lesson from Friday. Noel Klassen scored for the Lakers at 4:37 of the third period, but then DU closed out the period with a pair of power play goals from
Mattix McMullen and McLaughlin. Bauer and Dubbink assisted on the McMullen goal at 17:26 and
Peter Stojcevski and
Ryder McMillen assisted on the McLaughlin goal at 18:40. The shots on goal favored Davenport by a 31-22 margin.
Kyler Lowden made 21 saves in net for DU.
The next game will be in the GLCHL playoffs which begin on Thursday, Feb. 15 at Grand Valley State. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:30 PM at Griff's Georgetown in Hudsonville, Mich.
