After a closely contested game Friday night, men's ACHA Division II ice hockey stopped Davenport University 5-1 Saturday night at the Centene Community Ice Center in Maryland Heights, Missouri. The Lions scored two goals in the first period and three more in the second to pull away from the Panthers in convincing fashion.
Josh Linn started the offense for Lindenwood with his third goal of the series at 5:47 on a play set up by
Bradley Rupp and
Sean McMahon.
Ryan Granville beat the final horn of the opening frame and gave the Lions a 2-0 lead when he scored with just 10-second remaining with help from
Steve Avalone and
Bryce Leger.
Declan Carter continued the Lindenwood momentum when he netted a goal at 3:33 of the second, assisted by
Praveen Dhaliwal and Avalone. The Lions lead ballooned to 4-0 just over two minutes later when Linn and
Stanley Lucas put the puck on the blade of
RJ Hart for a score at 5:46. The final Lindenwood goal of the contest came from
Jacob Behnen. He split the pipes with 2:14 remaining in the period from Dhaliwal and
Adam Rischbieter. Davenport broke the shutout just over six minutes into the third for the final margin.
The Lions outshot the Panthers 60-20 and
Dylan Bak stopped 19 of the 20 shots he faced to earn the victory in goal for Lindenwood. The Lions went 0/1 on the power play while holding Davenport scoreless on three man-advantage chances.
With the win, Lindenwood completed the series sweep and improved to 11-4-0 overall. The Lions wrap up the fall semester campaign with a unique three-game weekend November 18-20. They host Aurora University at 7:10 p.m. Friday and again at 2:10 p.m. on Saturday, then play Texas Tech in a single contest at 7 p.m. Sunday night. All three contests take place at the Centene Community Ice Center.