By: Ryan Thompson, Assistant AD for Communications
GATES MILLS, Ohio - The start of 2026 resulted in a pair of road wins for the Davenport ACHA D1 hockey program at the expense of John Carroll University in the Buckeye State on Friday and Saturday at the Gilmour Academy Ice Arena.
Davenport jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first period on Friday against JCU and finished with a lopsided 8-2 win. Four different players scored in the first period beginning with
Kieran Thiessen's first goal of the season at 7:12 from
Ryder McMillen and
Peter Stojcevski.
Matt Carlson followed with a power play goal at 15:07 for his seventh goal of the season from
Dylan Jouppi and McMillen. McMillen made it a three-point opening period with his ninth goal of the season at 17:08 from
Ryan Blackburn and
Jake Alton.
Robert McLaughlin finished the period scoring at 19:51 for his third tally of the season from Carlson and
Noah Bradburn.
The lead swelled to 6-0 in the second period as
Brendan Bauer scored his 12th goal of the campaign at eight seconds from
Jack Kelly. Stojcevski at 3:16 scored his eighth goal of the season from McMillen and Alton. Matt Covelli got JCU on the board at 10:24 with his first goal of the season from Tanner Plinta and Luke Deakin.
Kelly made it 7-1 in the third period at 9:00 from Bauer and newcomer
Sammy Mielock for his eighth goal of the season. Austin Malley scored for John Carroll at 10:21 and the scoring ended at 14:51 as Carlson scored unassisted for his eighth goal of the season.
Kyler Lowden got the early lead from his teammates and settled in at goal with 25 saves. JCU used three different goaltenders as Brodie Lerch got the start and was pulled after the sixth goal with 17 saves. Jack Zuchlewski made 27 saves in his 33:44 of ice time. Lerch would come back on the ice for three minutes and made three more saves. McMillen's four-point game was his season high.
John Carroll put up a better fight on Saturday as the game went into overtime before the Panthers got the 4-3 victory. Mielock scored his first DU goal at 18:30 of the first period from Bauer and McLaughlin. Alton made it 2-0 at 4:16 of the second period for his fourth goal of the season from Stojcevski and McMillen. McMillen continued his red-hot weekend with a goal at 7:48 from Alton.
JCU would rally with the next three goals including the game-tying goal at 11:02 in the third period from Samuel Herr on the power play from Camden Martin and Plinta. The team's had chances back-and-forth in overtime and McMillen capped off a seven-point weekend with the winner at 3:42 from
Bryan Fenlon and Alton. DU now stands at 13 wins this season and will play three games this upcoming week. They travel to Michigan-Dearborn on Tuesday, Jan. 13 for a 7:00 PM skate. Then they will play twice against Grand Valley State with Friday's game at Griff's Georgetown (7:30 PM) and Saturday's game at Patterson Ice Center (8:15 PM).
