GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - The Davenport men's ACHA Division I hockey team had a hard-fought series against Illinois over the weekend with both games at Patterson Ice Center. The Panthers prevailed 3-2 in overtime on Friday evening and fell 3-2 in a shootout on Saturday.
The Friday night affair saw Davenport score on their only power play opportunity in the first period.
Peter Stojcevski at 7:11 of the opening period from
Ryder McMillen and
Jack Kelly gave DU a 1-0 lead. Kelly gave DU a 2-1 lead at the 2:39 mark of the second period from
Jake Alton and
Ryan Blackburn. The game was tied at 2-2 entering overtime and Kelly played the hero with his second goal of the game at 49 seconds from
Luke Mikkola. The Fighting Illini scored one power play goal in the third period and were 1-of-4 on the man advantage.
Kyler Lowden got the win in net with 23 saves on the night.
Illinois grinded out the shootout win on Saturday after seeing a 2-0 lead evaporate. Anthony Varrassi and Arthur Pawlik gave the Fighting Illini a first period lead with each scoring their second goal of the season. Davenport dug in and battled back with a late first-period goal by
Brendan Bauer, his seventh of the season. No more scoring occurred until the third period when
Liam Bland notched his second goal of the year at 2:33 from Blackburn and Anthony Kauffman. Each team had 11 shots on goal in the final period and four shots in overtime before heading into the shootout. The shootout went into the fifth round as both teams could not score with their first four skaters. Reilly Burke ended the game with the shootut winner for Illinois.
Reid Ramsay stopped 33 shots between the pipes for Davenport.
The Panthers (5-7) will hit the road this upcoming weekend with two games against the University of Louisville. Friday night's game starts at 8 PM followed by Saturday's game at 3 PM.
