ADRIAN, Mich.--The Adrian College ACHA Division I men's hockey team took the Arrington Ice Arena for the final time of the season on Thursday night in front of a strong senior night crowd, but was defeated in overtime by Davenport 4-3.
Adrian's Brad Kobryn scored all three of Adrian's goals in the contest, but Davenport's Tyler Ploeg scored the game winner with 2:54 remaining in the extra session. The three goal barrage by Kobryn brings his season goal total to 35. Entering the game, Kobryn was tied for the national lead in goals with Andrew Ferrentino of Canisius and John Ross LaPointe of Syracuse at 32 goals this season.
After pregame ceremonies honoring Adrian seniors Andre Rakas and Bobby Bodette and departing sophomores Zack MacKay and Nick Balavich, Davenport's Cameron Dimmitt scored the only goal of the first period as Davenport lead 1-0 at the first intermission.
Kobryn quickly remedied the situation to start the second period, with a beautiful breakaway goal on a pass from Erik Alden, just 1:08 into the period and then gave the Bulldogs the lead with an unassisted marker about four minutes later at the 5:29 mark.
The lead would not stand up long, however, as the Davenport power play kicked into high gear, with the Panthers getting goals from Louis Abounader and Chris Eckler with the man advantage to lead 3-2 after 40 minutes.
It looked like the Panther lead might stand up the rest of the way, until Kobryn scored again in a goal mouth scramble, with assists from Alden and Ted Anstett, with just 1:34 remaining on the clock.
The overtime period produced just one shot from either team, as Davenport's Tyler Ploeg broke free and slip the puck past Adrian goaltender Austyn Roudebush, who took just his second loss of the season while making 22 saves.
The overtime goal gave Davenport net minder Clayton Brown his 11th win of the year, as Brown made 34 saves in the Panther cage, as Adrian outshot Davenport 37-26 in the contest.
The Bulldogs record falls to 22-3-3-0 while Davenport is now 29-2-0-1. Adrian has a final regular season game on Saturday night when the face U of M Dearborn at the Fieldhouse in Dearborn at 7 PM. Adrian will begin the postseason Saturday, February 20, with the GLCHL playoffs in Kent, Ohio.
--David VanGeison
