GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- The No. 4 Adrian College Men's ACHA Division 1 hockey team collected a duo of wins over rival Davenport University in a GL6 conference duel this week. The Bulldogs blanked the Panthers, 3-0, at the Arrington Ice Arena on Thursday, before wrapping up the sweep on Friday in Grand Rapids, winning 4-2.
Adrian and Davenport have a long and detailed history, dating back to the early days of Adrian College ACHA hockey. Thursday night's contest was the beginning to another example of that as both teams battled hard at the AIA. The Bulldogs opened the scoring just over six minutes into the game thanks to a great feed from
Matteo Turrin to
Sebastian Smith, who buried one high on the DU goaltender. Later in the opening frame,
Hunter Allen capitalized for Adrian off an offensive zone face-off to put the Bulldogs up by a 2-0 score after one. Second period action saw the Bulldogs tack on one more as
David Dell tipped in a point shot from
Braidan Simmons-Fischer to bring the score to 3-0 in favor of the home squad. That was all the scoring they needed as the Bulldogs and goaltender,
Noah Decottignies, fended off the Panthers to secure the shutout victory. Decottignies, who returned to the Adrian lineup for his first start of the season, made 17 saves to earn the shutout.
The Bulldogs hit the road to close the series on Friday night where they looked to improve their win streak over the Panthers to 21 games. Adrian's
Dylan Gajewski opened the scoring less than ten minutes into the opening frame, putting the Bulldogs in the lead after one period. A Davenport tally in the second period sent both teams into the final frame tied at 1-1 with twenty minutes to go. Captain Smith eventually broke the tie for Adrian, potting his eighth of the season on the power-play in the opening minute. Halfway through the third period, Davenport tied the game at 2, setting up for an exciting to finish to a hard-fought battle. After a late Bulldog penalty, the Panthers had their chance to capitalize but it was Adrian's
Nash Hatcher who played hero on a beautiful solo short-handed rush, sending a backhand shot off the post and in to beat the Davenport goalie and put Adrian up 3-2 with under three minutes remaining. A late Davenport push was turned aside by Adrian's stellar defense and goaltender,
Peyton Trzaska. With 53 seconds on the clock, Gajewski sent a neutral zone floater through the air and into the opposing empty net to give Adrian the 4-2 win. Trzaska made 18 saves in his 10th win of the season.
The MD1 Bulldogs move to 12-1-2 on the season and 4-0-0 in GL6 conference play. The team will hit the road to Dearborn on Tuesday next week for a solo contest against another historic rival, the University of Michigan-Dearborn Wolverines. Puck drops at 7:00 PM. The Bulldogs will then return home and face-off against Aquinas College on Thursday at the Arrington Ice Arena at 7:30 PM.
